Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Achievement Porn

petermichaud.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 122 posts

Re: Achievement Porn

#51

Post by sgoranson »

afgeneralist wrote: post #49
sgoranson wrote: post #19

Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life. My personal take on reality is that the whole shebang is a "meaningless treadmill", but I'm willing to accept that it might not be true for the next guy.

"Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life." - I think this statement is lazy in that it's taking the cultural relativist approach. By this token, we shouldn't make judgment on female circumcision in Africa, or the one child rule in China. In their societies these practices have very important value but I think most of us probably feel like it's…

s/lazy/existentialist

Universal right and wrong just isn't my thing. YMMV

Re: Achievement Porn

#52

Post by zitterbewegung »

afgeneralist wrote: post #49
sgoranson wrote: post #19

Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life. My personal take on reality is that the whole shebang is a "meaningless treadmill", but I'm willing to accept that it might not be true for the next guy.

"Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life." - I think this statement is lazy in that it's taking the cultural relativist approach. By this token, we shouldn't make judgment on female circumcision in Africa, or the one child rule in China. In their societies these practices have very important value but I think most of us probably feel like it's…

What gives you the power to decide what is good and what isn't? People should define themselves by their own merits and what gives them the most utility.

Re: Achievement Porn

#53

Post by kevinh »

cynicalkane wrote: post #42
rortian wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this guy seems so full of it. Why is climbing a mountain not a fake achievement?

Because it's a test of fitness, physical ability, and a lot of other skills that are extremely valuable to the human organism?

Physical fitness/ability aren't valuable to most people anymore. Those aren't the major selection forces acting on humans in first world countries.

Re: Achievement Porn

#54

Post by hardik »

bd wrote: post #25
sgoranson wrote: post #19

Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life. My personal take on reality is that the whole shebang is a "meaningless treadmill", but I'm willing to accept that it might not be true for the next guy.

The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other…

Could not help notice that this was also quoted in (in fact, was a subject of) one of Pete's older articles.

Re: Achievement Porn

#55

Post by lsd5you »

sgoranson wrote: post #19

Trying to define what should be meaningful for other people is pretty arrogant and an insular perspective on life. My personal take on reality is that the whole shebang is a "meaningless treadmill", but I'm willing to accept that it might not be true for the next guy.

You are equivocating. Not all paths are equal, or at least in the completely subjective/nihilistic universe in which they are, the words good and bad have absolutely no meaning. We have to have some value system, if only to maintain our standard of living.

Like most things, moderation is king. Extremely shallow but effective manipulations of behaviour are a bad thing. A lot of people consuming these will agree ultimately that they have wasted their time and post-hoc have prefered to been forced to do something more challenging and fruitful with the time.

Challenge, discipline and delayed-gratification remain virtuous (in my opinion) and good despite technological advances short circuiting reward sensations.

Re: Achievement Porn

#56

Post by xenophanes »

Anyone else expect the article to be about an idea for a new porn site where you unlock achievements?

I clicked the link wondering if you made progress by watching stuff, or had to submit videos of doing stuff (which, from the perspective of the site owners, could be a way to encourage users to submit free content).

Re: Achievement Porn

#57

Post by gruseom »

jimbokun wrote: post #28
bd wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other…

Isn't that just Zen Buddhism? Was Hicks a Buddhist?

It certainly isn't just Zen. There are many spiritual traditions that quote could plausibly derive from. It sounds rather more Vedantic to me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_%28illusion%29).

Re: Achievement Porn

#58

Post by d3vvnull »

Any achievement has scope and context. What one achieves in any activity may or may not transcend that activity. The meaningfulness of the activity itself may not carry beyond the individual or beyond a select group. So I think, ultimately that the achiever has to make the final judgement as whether achieving the goal really matters to the achiever and whether it matters that the achievement is important to others.

Also, treadmills are not entirely useless, even in the metaphorical sense. I may not visibly being going anywhere, but my mind may be active and going through a process of re-wiring and preparation for other challenges.

Re: Achievement Porn

#59

Post by cynicalkane »

kevinh wrote: post #53
cynicalkane wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's a test of fitness, physical ability, and a lot of other skills that are extremely valuable to the human organism?

Physical fitness/ability aren't valuable to most people anymore. Those aren't the major selection forces acting on humans in first world countries.

One, they've been of less value in first world countries for the past sixty years. Call me a pessimist, but I'm not sure if this trend will continue.

Two, fitness signals health, which is valuable.

Three, even if fitness isn't valuable, we think it is, which makes it valuable for at least selfish reasons. Through most of history, fitness and ability have correlated strongly to attractive and charisma. Nobody's gonna give you social status or bear your children for getting all the achievements in Fable 2. (OK, some people might, but not very many.)

Re: Achievement Porn

#60

Post by Eliezer »

jff wrote: post #35

See here's the thing, ragging on the education system is so overdone, such an easy target, such a bullshit "I wasn't the best so it didn't matter anyway" thing, that as soon as somebody does it in these inevitable articles, I tune out. Seriously, every time somebody in one of these articles tries to get their pseudo-philosophical think on about education or achievement or whatever, they dive straight for AND OF COURS…

Hold on, I'm not sure that's fair. Yes, everyone knows that school is insane, marijuana is safer than alcohol, you shouldn't have different tax treatment for corporate and individual health insurance, et cetera et cetera EXCEPT WE DON'T ALL KNOW THAT AND THEY'RE STILL DOING IT.
Post reply on HN