This makes me think of the antarctic researcher who performed her own biopsies for breast cancer and was diagnosed long distance with a delay of months before she could be evacuated. At one point she was discussing the possibility of performing surgery on herself with cancer specialists over the internet– they were describing what it would take to pull it off. Can you imagine being her family or friend and hearing those kinds of updates long distance? Must have been really hard.

The difference here is because I’m married. Our culture encourages a certain amount of separation from family members (ancestors and siblings)as part of growing up- so that seems normal, even in your normal life you probably go weeks sometimes without talking to relatives.

Say, for instance, I went back to school for art or botany, and turned out to be a wunderkind. Then I was offered a chance to study art in Paris or to travel to the rainforest to search for medicinal plants. It would all have to be ethical and on the up and up and chances are, if it were Paris, he’d be tagging along with me.

Also, they use satellite phones on Mt. Everest, why couldn’t I use one in the rainforest?

No to the Arctic Circle, I already live in Maine. No to outer space, seen too many movies with scenes of depressurization. A thousand times no to anything having to do with sitting in an office cubicle!

Fuck you money as already mentioned and an unbelievable experience (such as walking on Mars, going to Jupiter, meeting an alien, etc).

Without both of these, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t leave my family.

I do it because I enjoy seeing other parts of the world, learning new languages and cultures, and meeting new women. Teaching people how to teach is satisfying work, and the pay is acceptable if not excellent. Being away from Canadian friends and family for the last 15 years, and then away from Polish friends and family for 10, and then Kyrgyz friends and family for 5, is bittersweet… But hey, there are new friends and family waiting in any place you choose to hang your hat for an extended period of time!

I missed the “no outside contact” clause. I assumed that I’d get email/phone, even an occasional weekend visit, as part of the deal. That would be a deal breaker.

It’s also personally interesting to me that I focused entirely on the money side of things. Granted, the money is a means to the end of being able to completely focus on family for the rest of my life - to be able to always be there and do anything we wanted to together. The concept of the act itself being valuable in its own right didn’t really occur to me. I wouldn’t really consider doing something I absolutely hated for 2 years, ever, no matter what the reward.

Over the years, I’ve gone through phases of considering doing some kind of work akin to missionary or Peace Corp activities, but I’d want to take my family with me on such excursions. Granted, we’d be cut off from extended family and friends, but that’s less of a sacrifice for me. I’d be much more willing to move away from extended family and social circles for a lot less return if I could take my immediate family with me.

1. No outside contact? As in, no internet? Recipe for madness. Or I’d get some writing done, I suppose.

2. Actually, this’d have to be a pretty extraordinary offer before I’d seriously consider it. Making stacks of money isn’t at the top of my priority list—I enjoy spending time with my wife, having ample free time, being more or less comfortable in my day to day life—and so for money to be a compelling offer, it’d have to be damned compelling. Something both of us could get on board with. I suppose that’s dbl’s Fuck You Money principle, but it’s something I’m less ready to embrace as a goal/possibility.

Paul Graham commented in one of his essays (that I can’t locate ATM) that, paraphrased, a startup is like trying to fit 40 years worth of work into 2 years. What he meant is that trying to make it rich with a startup is like trying to cram 40 years worth of the average worker’s economic productivity into a few years of completely focused time. You give up a few years of your life by dedicating yourself completely to the startup, and in exchange, you hope to come out of it with the equivalent retirement savings of someone who slaved away 9-5 for 40 years.