> But as I contemplated every purchase I realized that each one would pull me further and further away from the common experience of my fellow human beings. I would be operating in the world of Paris Hilton ("What’s Walmart, do they sell like wall stuff?”) instead of the world of grime, dirt, and soot inhabited by the vast majority of humanity.

As a person living in a very wealthy city in the united states you already operate far removed from the grim, dirt, and soot (not to mention the disease and starvation) inhabited by the rest of humanity.

I suggest joining the peace core.

He strikes me as being completely out of touch with the value of money. He's living as a single man on the median income of a family of four and he's acting like he can't have a single luxury? It's ridiculous.

Agreed. My first response was a huge eye roll. Oh how will he ever survive?? This experiment only counts if he's also feeding, clothing, and housing three other people (two of whom will grow out of all their clothes 3 times a year). And if he randomly breaks expensive electronics in his house by squeezing an entire tube of GoGurt on them.

Hopefully it will turn into one man's quest to get in touch with the value of money. Why this is on the HN front page baffles me though.

The dude is a hypocrite. What is he actually hoping to accomplish by doing this? Who is he going to help? Instead of this BS, he should either live his life an enjoy his money, or, if he's feeling guilty or something, he should consider donating some of his money or volunteering for something he believes in.

What I am trying to accomplish is to stay connected to the experiences that most human beings have.

Define "most".

If you're talking about the most humans across the world, then your lifestyle (as is mine) is leagues above that.

If you're talking about being in-touch with the "middle class USA" even then you're a quite a bit off on your numbers (single with a family of 4 income = lots of disposable income).

I admire your intention, but the outcome of your goal setting may not be what you have in mind. Perhaps the best way to stay connected is to do the things most humans do - settle down with a spouse/partner and have/adopt child(ren)... you can't know it until you live it.

Yes, I should define most. I should also define experiences.

By most, I mean something like what you suggest. What most people who live in G-7 countries experience.

By experiences, I am referring to economic experiences, although I understand that all facets of life, including romance, are influenced by money.

Agreed. If he wants to be poor, he should give away his money.

This hits me like the most elaborate humblebrag ever.

This may be one of the most self-absorbed, egotistical, and subtly offensive things I've seen posted on HN.

Here's something to think about: Being connected with your fellow man has nothing to do with how much money you make or putting arbitrary limits on yourself. If you think limiting your income and taking away "luxuries" in your life is going to somehow change your connections with humanity, you have no sense of what connecting with the common human even entails.

It sounds to me like you're very out of touch with humanity, and that has nothing to do with money IMO.

What does connecting with humans entail?

The answers to this are on a person by person basis, but I know it doesn't have anything to do with middle class poverty or a single man living like an "average" family of four.

Here is what I think connecting with others means: I connect with someone when, in my heart and mind, I understand their needs and feelings.

If my everyday experience is different from a person's daily experience, my ability to connect with them decreases radically. For example, I have great difficulty connecting with people who do not read.

So, as I imagined spending 10x what I was spending before on myself, I realized that I would lose my ability to connect with a huge number of human beings. Hence, the vow.

Your definition of connecting with others would be close to mine as well, however, I think I could accomplish those things no matter what my everyday experience was or how much money I had in the bank.

"middle class poverty"?

Privileged bollocks is all that comes to mind.

I think he is seriously missing out on one thing both the rich and poor need - "a goal". Without that, people tend to go around in circles.

I might be missing a goal. The goal that this vow meets is my need for connection.

The $25K includes food, travel, and medical care. I doubt there will be any trips to Killington.

If you spend $20 a DAY on food (which is exorbitant), and you have health insurance (in MA, about $400/mo for a single dude), you will have $13,000 for travel. If you can't afford to go to Killington, it's probably because you should not be renting the entire mountain. Of course, you may have chronic health issues which are expensive. That would make travel difficult in any case.

I sort of find the idea of living off 75k to understand "gritty reality," preposterous and moderately offensive. It's like giving up Dom Perignon for Veuve Clicquot in order to understand poverty.

By travel I meant car payments, car insurance, airfare, etc. not vacation trips.

The $13K that you calculate includes this travel plus everything else. I don't think that I will be taking any trips to Killington when my discretionary income is significantly below $1K/month. And, if I do, it will only be because I've given something else up, like buying books, for an extended period of time.