I think you may be misunderstanding his claims here.
He lost me a bit when he argued, quite vehemently, against having a pet.
In the Great News! Dog Ownership is Optional! article he doesn’t argue against having a pet, just that “the benefits are generally understood, while the downsides and costs are vastly underestimated”, and thus a lot of people may want to reconsider it.
He really believes that stripping every ounce of joy, except for what HE considers joyful, is the path to success.
I think this is easy to misinterpret because he doesn’t do a good enough job of emphasizing this, but he doesn’t believe in stripping joy away from life. I think this article on housing is a good example of that. He talks about why he thinks his nice four bedroom, four bathroom house is worth the large expense.
I think you may be misunderstanding his claims here.
In the Great News! Dog Ownership is Optional! article he doesn’t argue against having a pet, just that “the benefits are generally understood, while the downsides and costs are vastly underestimated”, and thus a lot of people may want to reconsider it.
I think this is easy to misinterpret because he doesn’t do a good enough job of emphasizing this, but he doesn’t believe in stripping joy away from life. I think this article on housing is a good example of that. He talks about why he thinks his nice four bedroom, four bathroom house is worth the large expense.