I think think the argument is cut and dry as one might think. What's a few broken bones if you're stunted socially, independently, and creatively through regulation and rules. Exploring the new world with friends of your own age without adults putting you in their mental box makes you your own person. I think it's underappreciated what that enables.

Completely agree, the point of life isn't to reduce risk to zero - it's to make life wildly abundant and beautiful. Joy and creativity should be prioritized heavily over safety. That doesn't mean you don't have safety as a priority, it just means joy should factor more heavily into the equation.

I doubt much progress and improvement would be made simply by increasing lifespan. Comparatively, if you inspire a generation of kids to be pioneers and explorers I imagine you see a vast improvement in technological advancements and social progress.

These things are hard, if not impossible, to measure, but I don't think it takes too much extrapolation from other measurable events to find this to be true.

> simply by increasing lifespan

To this point, there is a growing push to consider “healthspan” rather than lifespan in terms of medical outcomes. It turns out that being alive hooked up to tubes confined to a bed isn’t all that great.

Super nice. What books/ideas do you recommend?

I'm not sure what you're asking, recommend towards what end? I have no idea how to inspire the next generation. Right now I'm working hard towards financial independence and improving my health so that in 10 years or so I can dedicate all of my energy towards something that excites me and hopefully benefits others.

I guess if I was to contribute an idea that I think more people should adopt, it's that I believe people are most happy when their existence improves others lives. To that end I think we should optimize towards having the most healthy years with the most freedom to explore ways to be useful and bring joy to others. That means being frugal and investing wisely and focusing on the delayed gratification that early retirement will bring.

I find that it's hard to give from a place just surviving, but if you can delay gratification and work hard towards being in a place of surplus, you'll have a lot to offer and hopefully that leads to a very joyful and meaningful life.

Breaking a bone is a serious injury. It doesn’t always heal properly.

People jokingly say that kids bounce, but sometimes they don’t. It blows my mind that people treat broken bones in kids as not a serious injury.

I had it in mind I was going to be a stuntman when I was young, and took glee in scaring the crap out of adults by pretending to crash my bike, fall out of trees, or off of structures.

Whatever I learned from those years of risky play I credit with helping me to go on many exciting adventures and and engage with a variety of ill-advised recreational pursuits all while keeping myself largely intact.

Are you lucky, or are necks less likely to break than arms due to evolutionary pressure?

Well, arms are much longer (so, a larger lever), and people instinctually extend them to blunt the fall. Whereas it's instint to protect head and neck in the same situation.

Could just be survivor bias. I wouldn't be posting here if my neck had broken, most likely.

The bounce back game is real as a kid.

Maybe it's all about mass. The force on my knees landing at 200lbs is way greater than at 50lbs.

But maybe I'm just trying not to feel old.

Mass, height, and the mechanics of momentum (as when, say, tripping) all make a difference. Some of the terms involved have exponents applied. Adults definitely feel a lot more force from mistakes made while moving their bodies than kids do.

At the same time?

Two were.