What are people doing? Live-ish estimates based on global population dynamics

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Design & Overall Concept

  • Many commenters praise the visual design, especially the day–night world map and the ability to deliver the whole simulation in (essentially) a single HTML file.
  • The project is seen as an elegant, engaging “live” snapshot of humanity, even if only approximate.
  • Some prefer other time‑use visualizations (e.g., US‑only survey-based ones) as more precise, but still find this one compelling.

Emotional & Philosophical Reactions

  • Watching deaths tick by (~2 per second) is described as sobering; it foregrounds how quickly whole lifetimes disappear.
  • Others counterbalance this with the idea that at the same time billions are actively living, loving, celebrating, and building memories.
  • Several find the near‑parity between “Intimacy” and “Warfare” numbers sad; others note that intimacy at least often exceeds warfare, which is seen as a hopeful signal.
  • Restroom and smoking/sex comparisons generate humor, but also reflections on how we actually spend our time.

Data Quality, Realism & Modeling

  • Some are skeptical of the underlying “population dynamics,” calling parts of it “vibe-coded” and insufficiently sourced or grounded.
  • The flickering births/deaths‑per‑second numbers are criticized as unrealistic once the author’s deliberate randomization is noticed; suggestions include modeling births as a Poisson process or varying by local time.
  • Sleep percentages are questioned (seeming too low at certain times), with speculation that the model over-relies on sunrise/sunset and doesn’t handle latitude or cultural sleep patterns well.
  • Similar doubts arise over “Intimacy” and prison counts and whether they’re anything more than fixed ratios.

Interpretation of Specific Stats

  • The share of people in paid work (often seen around mid‑teens %) surprises some as low, but others walk through life‑cycle and hours‑per‑week math and find it plausible.
  • Combined paid work + education near one‑third of activity is viewed as roughly consistent with 8‑hour days, accounting for children and retirees.
  • Population growth sparks debate: concern about net positive growth vs. concern about long‑term demographic decline and pension sustainability; population momentum and regional fertility differences are mentioned.

UI Choices & Feature Ideas

  • The phone icon for “Leisure” sparks debate; alternatives like couch, book, beach, or dancing are proposed, with recognition that phones probably reflect reality.
  • Requested additions include: regional/zoomable views, heatmaps for births/deaths, per‑country stats, more realistic time dynamics, and explicit counts for people in the air, at sea, or in space.
  • Several suggest turning the “Live Viewers” metric into a first‑class activity category for meta-fun.