this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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Freedom degrees. Roughly -13° or 38° if you live in the sane parts of the world.

I’d pick triple digits, mostly because I’ve lived in places that routinely hit 100° in the summer, and I hate shoveling snow.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I can survive in 9c but 100c will kill me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

yhea 9° is still shorts and t-shirts weather for me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

This, exactly lol

[–] [email protected] 13 points 22 hours ago

If you actually live in those temp ranges, you're fucked either way. Modern technology is what makes those ranges bearable.

That being said, I can bundle up pretty easy compared to mitigating heat.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Single digits for sure. I'll be okay from -9 to +9, but I don't really see a solution to a 999°F heatwave

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Yeah I live in Canada so -9C is no big deal at all lol. and +9C is basically summer so

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Assuming modern technology didn't suddenly disappear, I would pick the cold without a doubt. Give me a good sized greenhouse attached to my home for growing my garden and I would be happy as a lamb. I hate summer, and the heat that comes with it. While 9F is colder than I typically prefer for outdoor activities (I generally like it right around 40F) I can make clothing and gear adjustments to continue outdoor hobbies like hiking and backpacking. If it was perpetually colder here I would probably take up a snow sport too. (Currently it's not snowy enough where I live for snow sports). Also if it's that cold I would never have to deal with bugs again and I am 100% here for that.

As it currently is I'm basically stuck inside for 3 months of the year due to heat unless I want to drive 8 or more hours for a brief holiday respite. Summer is the worst. Give me arctic cold please.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I was voting cold before but I didn't even think about the bugs. 1000% team cold now lol.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago

Right? I will happily deal with the cold to make mosquitoes, gnats and ticks a problem I no longer have.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@ephrin Well, assuming I still had access to mitigation strategies, like well designed housing etc, I'd choose permanent 38C (100F) over permanent -13C.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Sure, modern tech is available. Both of these theoretical would be pretty intolerable without them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I'd take single digit temperatures over 80+ even, let alone 100+, that's insane, I'm northern born so I start melting around 80, I would die at 100. Hell I'd take double digit negative temperatures only over triple digits

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've lived in both. The generally colder environments with high humidity are worse than adding 10-15° and having low humidity.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

When I was a kid we once had a snow storm so bad it took out the entire (small) town's power. People huddled up in the mayor's house because he had a working genny. When the adults had to go out they had to wear goggles or your eyes would start freezing in your skull. Yaaaa Minnesota

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not even a choice.

If you choose over 100F you will see electronics failing more often, working harder, less efficient, working badly, etc because the heat is causing them to throttle in various ways. In the modern world it is far, far easier to heat up a space with a house full of electronics and humans than it is to keep it cool. The energy required to raise the temperature from say 5 degrees F to a more comfortable 40 degrees (35 degree change) pales in comparison to the energy required to keep yourself and your devices cool a mere 10-15 degrees less to around 90 degrees which is still uncomfortably hot and sweaty.

I'll note that a constant 100 degrees is more than hot enough to cause various foods, medications, substances to break down and go bad. Check your medicine cabinet, most of your pills including over the counter are only rated for storage at up to 86 degrees. Your medicine will lose efficiency or go bad in some, perhaps many cases. Your food outside your fridge will spoil more quickly, mold and bacteria will grow more quickly and readily. Your fridge itself will work harder and die sooner.

The tap water will run hot or warm most of the time meaning a shower won't necessarily cool you off much.

The colder temperatures are cheaper all costs considered, feel better, can be negated at a moment's notice with socks, a jacket, and a blanket.

It's easy to insulate a home against extreme cold and just retain heat you generate inside including by your body and devices. It requires a lot more effort to keep the inside cold when both the outside and things inside are generating heat and trying to warm it up.

This is a reason why climate change is a nightmare not just for human comfort but on so many levels. Our electronics are going to operate less efficiently in a warmer world and draw more power to do so.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

The electronics is something I hadn’t even considered.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I live in a spot where temps range between 19-39 degrees in the daytime, swinging from dry to humid every now and again.

I'll take 1-9 C all day, every day. Despite living here my entire life, temps above 25 are uncomfortable for me. I've discovered that temps between 5 and 14 degrees for me are ideal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I was thinking single digits in “freedom degrees,” which is -13°. Same answer?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago

Haven't ever been under 0, so while I am partial to cold weather, I cannot offer an answer beyond a guess, that I might be more comfortable still at -13 than at 40, considering I'd just need to put a couple more layers on.

I can layer up if its cold, windy, and rainy. Walking helps move blood around and warm up. You can't escape heat unless you got AC on, or continuously splash water around your body and sit in front of a fan. Even then, if its hot and moist, that won't help (wet bulb).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Arid, or humid?

It makes all the difference at higher temperatures. 100°F in Nevada or New Mexico is NOT the same thing as 100°F in Florida or Tennessee.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Let’s say half the year humid, half not.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Then I’d do it.

All year humid, hell no. But a 6-mo break is ok.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Day to day, I'd take a dry 100 degrees. My problem is a like to do cardio exercise outside, like run and bike. 100 degrees makes that significantly more difficult and dangerous. We've had upper 90s and high humidity the last couple of weeks and it's been tough to do anything more than about 20 minutes at a time.

On the other hand, I love to snowboard, which can't happen in triple digits. Snow and ice depending, biking and running are doable at single digit temps. I hate walking outside and feeling pain from the cold temps.

I'd probably take the triple digits and travel for cold vacations.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I also love to snowboard, so it would suck to give up cold temps completely.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I don’t know how much that is in normal degrees and I’m too lazy to check but I generally prefer cold. Heating up is much easier (if you’re privileged enough). You don’t have to shower every single day, you don’t need to drink as much. Its a bit of a hassle every time to go outside with all the extra clothes, my electric car is less efficient and opening windows to let fresh air in is unpleasant. But that’s a small price to pay.

Hot is just always shit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Ever since I had a heat exhaustion event in my late teens, I have been exceedingly sensitive to heat. Think actively sweating like I’m in a sauna - only in normal office temperatures. I have to shave my head for nearly half the year in order to not look like a drowned rat - and carry a “sweat towel” with me at all times to wipe the dripping sweat off a half dozen times an hour.

My home office is set to between 15℃ and 18℃ because that is the temperature where I feel the same amount of comfort as most other people do between 24℃ and 28℃. Throw a business suit into the mix, and that comfort range drops by 4-6℃.

There are times in the winter where I throw all the office windows open, let the -20℃ air roll in from outside, and actually enjoy wearing long pants and a sweater.

…I live in Canada. Near where it hit 50℃ during the heat dome a few years ago. Climate Change is going to be brutal for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I went through this in my middle teens. It took 10 or 20 years to go away.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, my heat exhaustion event was a quarter century ago. It’s just gotten worse and worse over the years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

That is just brutal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

So… triple digits then?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I'm pretty sure triple digit temperatures would result in death.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago

Depend on the exact digits, 100 or 999 kelvins sure would.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Imagine you are one if the only countries that use Fahrenheit and just assume that everyone knows what you are talking about when you say degrees without a unit is the essence of american personality

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Imagine not understanding that single digits == cold and triple digits== hot. It's funny how everyone else seemed to figure it out.

Let's use our child brain for a minute so hopefully I can help you understand this. Let's assume that the initial post was in celcius. Single digits is cool and livable. What about triple digits? Do you think that living at triple digits celcius is even a viable option? Did you really need someone to identify the unit of measure for you to understand the question?

Your pedantry makes you look like an idiot that has no critical thinking ability.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Well I stated that it is about Fahrenheit, so I seem to have understood what it's about

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does nobody actually read the actual post any more before commenting?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Your original post doesn't say Fahrenheit anywhere though. I mean, I'm a USian so I knew what you meant by "freedom degrees" but I don't think it's fair to act like everyone in the world who might see this post would know that phrase means Fahrenheit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I mean… I guess? I just figured any English speaker, when presented with “freedom degrees” versus “sane parts of the world” would get it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

I might actually prefer winter all year if it wasn't for that pesky "growing food" thing.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Single digit. It's easier to warm up than cool down, and I can't stand hot weather. I'm also fairly used to freezing temps.

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