A lot of thoughtful discussion on this post. Hereās a few follow-up thoughts:
Not every person trying to retire early is giving up on experiences, I understand that. Some people are doing a balanced version of FIRE.
While true, there is a large community of people who are actively delaying important parts of life in the pursuit of some financial goal being met. There are Reddit communities dedicated to people who basically work all the time and give no thought or energy to anything else in hopes of escaping the 9-5 early.
This is misguided. First - you have your entire life to make money, but you do not have your entire life to form a family.
Woman move into high-risk pregnancy when they are 35 or older, itās called advanced maternal age. Which simply means that their pregnancies are at higher risk of developmental issues. You may also be surprised to learn that the age of men matters, and after 40 years old there is a gradual increase in the baseline risk of developmental issues in pregnancy.
In both cases time is not on your side to form a family. Risk factors increase with age, and over time the opportunity completely disappears for many people.
On top of that being a young parent is extremely fun. I had my first kid when I was 25and making $45k/yr. That boy has literally been one of the most amazing parts of my life.
You get to chill with a baby sleeping on your chest as you watch TV. You get to see them grow and teach them how to ride a bike, skate board, teach them out to read. I have stayed up all night playing Xbox with him and watching movies. Now heās 11. We have tickets booked to see the third Dune in iMax. After mom puts him to bed I frequently sneak into his room and watch YouTube videos with him. Now I have 3 kids, one on the way. And itās literally my favorite part of life.
I only say this because I believe thereās a culture now that is somewhat bizarrely against forming families, and super focused on self-success, making money, and eating the perfect diet. You have podcast guys in their 50s that are single, childless, giving life advice to millions of people every day.
Iām not saying everyone has to do this, and I have no judgement for you if you decide differently. If your life goal is just to work hard and make a bunch of money so you can live an easy life, thatās fine. Thatās your decision. But keep in mind that you have your entire life to earn money, you do not have your entire life to create a family.
The design team @pixelmatters_ has been using @shadcndesignās Figma kit, evolving it to shape our internal Design System foundation.
Not just adding behavior notes, but defining best practices to shape a system that fits our needs.
What's VERY interesting here
Last few years the European Commission tried to censor speech on social media platforms with the Digital Services Act (DSA)
But it didn't really work, it caused so much outrage on here and elsewhere, thanks to all of you posting about it, that it became super unpopular
So I think the people behind all this thought "okay if we can't censor on EU level, let's just go national"
So now you see the Spanish PM announce they will change the laws to prosecute speech on social media platforms (specifically X), and on the same day French authorities are raiding the Telegram offices
What you see here is a consistent effort to take power over social media and chat channels because they're the dominant places where we exchange thoughts now
Nobody but boomers watch TV anymore which they still partly controlled via state media, so this is their attempt at taking back control
ā”ļøJapan already knows it is over.
You can feel it in how little urgency there is around reversing this.
The policies are polite. The incentives are symbolic. The messaging is soft. That only happens when a system has subconsciously accepted the outcome.
If Japan believed reversal was possible, it would behave violently.
Emergency housing nationalization.
Radical work hour collapse.
Massive family transfers.
Cultural rupture.
None of that is happening.
Because the real constraint is not money or policy.
It is desire.
A civilization stops reproducing when life no longer feels like an expansion. When the future feels heavier than the present. When continuity feels like obligation instead of promise.
Japan optimized for safety, predictability, and order so completely that it eliminated the emotional surplus required to bring new humans into the world.
Children are not produced by comfort.
They are produced by meaning.
Japan has comfort without meaning.
This is why the streets are clean and the cradles are empty.
And here is the uncomfortable truth most people avoid.
Once a society crosses this line, the collapse does not look dramatic. It looks quiet, managed, and strangely peaceful.
No riots.
No chaos.
No burning cities.
Just fewer schools.
More hospitals.
More inheritance without heirs.
More systems designed to preserve what exists rather than create what comes next.
Japan is choosing preservation over propagation.
That choice becomes self reinforcing.
Older populations vote for stability.
Stability resists disruption.
Disruption is required for renewal.
So renewal never comes.
The deepest truth is this.
Japan is a mirror for modern civilization.
Every advanced system that maximizes efficiency, financialization, credentialism, and risk minimization walks toward the same endpoint.
Low birth rates are the final output of a system that no longer believes tomorrow will be better than today.
Japan is simply the first to arrive there honestly.
Everyone else is still pretending.
I have a great life. But itās not because of I have money or a garage full of nice cars.
Iām hitting up Costco today, one of my favorite places to shop. They always have new fun things to look at.
Tonight Iām playing the Risk Board game with my 10 year old for the first time. Itās going to blow his mind as we battle for world domination.
Im going to be picking up food from one of my favorite local joints.
After that, Iām watching the new Knives Out Netflix movie with the wife. Watching a movie while she wants me to scratch her head is š
Having money is a nice bonus for sure. But I think your priorities are totally backwards if youāre putting money above other aspects of life.
@bmfteixeira@Google Such a turnaround after all the DOJ uncertainty, it's marvelous to witness. I've been an advocate for their phones/software, a subscriber for YouTube/Cloud and a shareholder for some time, makes me happy!
@bmfteixeira Agreed, I had a similar realization on this topic from experience! At companies/societies/social media, no matter where, it often ends this way.
šŖšŗ Telegram sent this message to all its users in France regarding Chat Control. People must know the names of those who try to steal their freedoms:
Today, the European Union nearly banned your right to privacy. It was set to vote on a law that would force apps to scan every private message, turning everyoneās phone into a spying tool.
France led the push for this authoritarian law. Both former and current Interior Ministers, Bruno Retailleau and Laurent NuƱez, supported it. Last March, they declared that police should see French citizensā private messages. The Republicans and Macronās Renaissance group voted for it.
Such measures are supposed to āfight crimeā, but their real target is regular people. It wouldnāt stop criminals ā they could just use VPNs or special websites to hide. Officialsā and police messages wouldnāt be scanned either, since the law conveniently exempts them from surveillance. Only YOU ā ordinary citizens ā would face the danger of your private messages and photos being compromised.
Today, we defended privacy: Germanyās sudden stand saved our rights. But freedoms are still threatened. While French leaders push for total access to private messages, the basic rights of French people ā and all Europeans ā remain in danger.
The idea that reporting numbers on a quarterly basis makes the company short-term focused is nonsense.
US companies are committing record levels of long-term capital investment. Companies like Costco, which report sales numbers on a *monthly* basis, are some of the most long-term focused companies in the world.
Meanwhile, the semi-annual reporting that is more common in Europe has not led to better long term performance or more investment in the business, and they continually lag their quarterly-reporting US counterparts.
What would change if this happens, is the market would be more opaque, less updated, and worse pricing for stocks. Companies could be struggling for 5 months before investors have any idea.
Transparency is a good thing. We should build technology to make quarterly reports easier and more efficient, not do away with them.
Energy is abundant in the universe! The āwe must use less energy/personā nonsense is one of the biggest self-owns of the 20th century. Surprising given the 20th century also gave us nuclear energy!
More energy per person leads to better quality of life and more capabilities, for everyone. Standards of living are downstream of energy use per person. āLess energy useā is not how we get to abundance for everyone ā it is how we stagnate and lock in resource problems.
āMore energy useā is perfectly compatible with a green future, and causing it. Itās the demand for more energy that is causing the innovations required in solar and nuclear. And weāll discover new and better systems over time as a response to growth.
Despite these sad graphs, the world is finally waking up from this malaise and ramping energy production. I hope the slope of the US and EU ramp to meet Chinaās. The solar installation graphs and new nuclear efforts are so inspiring. A bright future ahead āļøš°ļøā”ļøš³
This is crazy true and comes up a lot in both Netherlands where I'm from and Portugal where I live
Dutch and Portuguese speak very good English and their accent while present gets close to American English
Their neighboring Germans and Spanish both have extremely thick accents and often quite broken (but understandable) English
Subtitles is the direct result of this, all our cartoons as kids were in English with Dutch subtitles while the Germans would get German dubbed cartoons
We're simply way more exposed to the right pronounciation of English as kids than for ex Germans
Meet JoĆ£o Camarate ā Founder at Invertly, Startup Nerd, and Angel Investor ā one of our first confirmed speakers for Craftmatters 2025! š„
With over two decades of hands-on experience in founding and scaling SaaS companies ā including a notable $25M exit ā JoĆ£o has led product, engineering, and growth teams from early-stage startups to global players. Along the way, heās mentored countless entrepreneurs on achieving product-market fit, slashing churn, and unlocking sustainable growth.
At Craftmatters, heāll deliver the talk āFrom Zero to One: How AI Dramatically Speeds Up Product Innovation,ā offering real-world insights into harnessing AI for faster, smarter product development.
Join us and learn from a true SaaS pioneer. Get your ticket here: https://t.co/SdnSTX6QIK
Buffett: "Life today is better in almost every way. Youāve got to figure that you started at a pretty lucky spot just by being born when you were. Imagine staying in some cosmic waiting room for hundreds of thousands of years and then getting dropped into the present ā not bad timing. So I would focus on whatās been good in your life, rather than whatās gone wrong. Yes, bad things happen ā sometimes very bad things. But life can still be wonderful."
Can't believe @Pixelmatters_ is throwing its first-ever public conference! š„
Craftmatters ⦠May 30 ⦠Porto.
Calling all Designers, Engineers, and Product people.
A day to celebrate the love for the craft.
A day to share learnings, failures, and experiences.
A day, should I say, to celebrate Portuguese talent as well. šµš¹
The quality of the speakers that we've managed to assemble is unreal.
Just a few names...
ā§ @emanuelsa, from @sketch
ā§ @dscape, from @decipad & @YLDio
ā§ @HenrM_Cruz, from @RowsHQ
šļø There are ~100 spots. I expect tickets to fly FAST, so grab yours now ā https://t.co/8sboUcO9Q4
I'll be a moderator in two of these moments.
Excited and looking forward to seeing you there! šŖ
Back on the grid ā”ļø And introducing @pixelmatters_ first-ever conference: Craftmatters 2025 šļø
Crafted for builders, by builders ā a celebration of digital craftsmanship where design, engineering, and product collide.
Expect hands-on demos, real āshow & tellā sessions, and unfiltered insights on AI, collaboration, and more.
If this sounds like your kind of event, get your ticket here: https://t.co/4Gc6vZQkgA
Letās elevate the craft, together. We canāt wait to meet you there. š«¶