Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
In what unholy universe can one justify spending 1.5x one's salary on a GPU...
With 1.5x my salary I could buy a... used Ford Mustang (currently debating whether to save for a rainy day or blow it all on a Corvette). But I would still flinch when buying a 3070. In fact I won't. My 1070 serves me fine.
Do you just.. not think about the future or retirement or are you just that bullish on AI doom or have an extensive support network? I literally cannot fathom spending that much on a GPU!
Uh, that's more an indictment of my salary being shit than anything else, why do you think I intend to emigrate?
This was in the middle of the pandemic, and I paid 90k INR for that, or about a thousand USD today. In fact, it might have been two months salary at the time, my current job is about a 50% payraise, but after 2 years, so who knows how much inflation ate up.
A Mustang is 90,000 USD equivalent here (!), or about 12-15 years of my current salary lmao, maybe a year or two for my dad, at the peak of his career. Shit is expensive, and we earn less, what do about it?
When you make such a pittance, you have little incentive to save any of it. If I'm making 5 or 6 times more abroad (at a minimum), then the paltry sum I could save here isn't worth the inability to indulge in my only expensive hobby. But yes, I have plenty of familial support right now, so I don't have to worry about that cash not going to rent, fuel or other expenses. That'll change when I'm out of the country of course.
I actually don't care in the least about retiring, at least not voluntarily. I'm not kidding about my AI timelines, if I'm cost competitive with AGI in 10 years I'll eat my hat. To the extent that I want more money and more savings, it's because money can buy security and safety, I'd rather become unemployed with a hundred k in the bank than when I'm broke!
Okay, I think I underestimated a new Mustangs cost, I'm not anywhere near making 60k USD a month. But that was the most absurd comparison that came to mind, albeit a heavily used Mustang. But eh.
Just don't go crazy when you emigrate and end up with not paltry amounts of money on tap on a monthly basis. Hit yourself in the head with a frying pan and tell yourself "This is not India, COL is higher here, and I don't have parents to support me here" because you might feel like a newly minted millionaire as you do a quick currency conversion in your head.
I'll keep that in mind, but gaming and takeout aside, I'm quite frugal, and the former is unlikely to be a proportionally equivalent expense in the West!
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link