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Being Bored Is Good

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Re: Being Bored Is Good

#161

Post by falcor84 »

cataphract wrote: post #143
vageli wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you don't make it to Bach's level of achievement you'll be forgotten instantly. Enjoy simple things, life is beautiful without setting bs goals, play music, draw, dance, do some woodwork, who cares you'll most likely suck at it compared to the masters, just enjoy the process My experience has been the complete opposite. There are teachers whose memory I still cherish to this day because of their tender yet firm…

Does it even matter that one gets remembered by a few more centuries (if mankind's lucky) before we destroy ourselves (or ultimately by the Sun boiling the planet) rather than after one's grandchildren or so die?

Yes, as much as anything matters. Quoting the titular Angel: "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do".

We ourselves create meaning in our lives, and our doing so is subject to memetics, like most everything else. I would argue that the desire to do acts that affect others and be remembered through them is a pretty clear leader in this memetic race.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#162

Post by falcor84 »

brokenmachine wrote: post #138
ALittleLight wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having children is immensely satisfying and fulfilling. It's challenging, time consuming, expensive, and productive. All the accomplishments of humanity stem from having children. The vast, vast, majority of humanity will never accomplish anything that will rival raising children well. The remainder are those who invent, discover, build, and market those things that let us live and have children better.

>All the accomplishments of humanity stem from having children. And all the failures. There's already too many people on this planet for it to be sustainable.

As one who grew up reading sci-fi such as Asimov's, I would strongly hope that we go ahead and colonise the universe soon. There's a lot more space out there. And perhaps eventually we could live in a simulation a-la Greg Egan.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#163

Post by abledon »

stcredzero wrote: post #6

If it weren't for the crushing boredom of the suburbs when I was a child, I might not have learned how to program computers. I would never have thought so much about spaceships. The original Star Wars trilogy wouldn't have been nearly as cool to discover. I also play traditional music, though boredom wasn't part of my discovering that. However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past. You need empty…

now kids watch twitch.tv in the suburbs

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#164

Post by warent »

warent wrote: post #135
ACow_Adonis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

like fashion, it's both a matter of taste, but is also a matter of culture, technology and tools. Invention of the radio, coupled then with the automobile, supported by advertising during drive time shows, has created a popular genre focused on simple short repetitive themes repeated 3 to 4 times, identifiable and quotable in a few second segments, and with a run time limited typically to 2 to 4 minutes. As a social…

I think we're talking past each other a little bit here. There's no denying that taste isn't augmented and influenced by "external forces or manipulation" (what, in all of society and culture, isn't?) and current pop is a fairly well-defined genre. I'm agreeing with everything you're saying. But that has nothing to do with the commenter relating "modern music" to a "constant bombardment of shit" which is what my repl…

Correction: I meant "There's no denying that taste is augmented..." not isn't but I think you all figured that out by now :)

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#166

Post by cyberferret »

warent wrote: post #91

> Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. This seems a little bit like a fist-shaking "back in my day!" kind of judgemental statement. Music is a matter of taste and what you're approaching here doesn't relate to the topic.

I am going to have to back the parent comment about music, having had first hand experience with this.

My son is currently trying to break into the music industry. He is a gifted guitarist and musician [0], but whenever he talks to music producers and execs, he is told that his songwriting is too complex, his songs too long (avg 4 minutes) and his lyrics too deep for the current generation of music buyers (read: teenagers and young girls).

He is being told repeatedly by the people who make the decisions that he needs to reduce his songs to a basic beat with a couple of good hooks and not much more than that (apart from adding some eletronica). These are the people who fund albums and promotions these days. This is their criteria. From the horses mouth.

[0] - https://instagram.com/jordanravimusic

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#167

Post by brokenmachine »

brokenmachine wrote: post #156
mcny wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree that not everyone needs to have children. I'd go as far as to say most people don't need to have children. However, how do we go about changing this? We demand constant growth in the economy which won't play well with a rapidly shrinking population. That being said, I'd love to promote the idea that your children are not just your responsibility but mine as well. It is such a primitive tribal idea…

>We demand constant growth in the economy which won't play well with a rapidly shrinking population. That ridiculous and frankly insane expectation of constant growth is the reason we're in this mess in the first place. Also, a "rapidly shrinking population" has never happened so who knows what the effects might be. >Personally, I am OK with waves of forced mass sterilization but I understand, because human nature, i…

Replying to myself because I found this interesting, so someone else might as well:

>We demand constant growth in the economy which won't play well with a rapidly shrinking population.

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/world-population-ch...

Especially interesting/scary is the "World population since 10,000 BCE" chart.

I don't think a rapidly shrinking population is the problem that we are likely to experience.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#168

Post by Gene_Parmesan »

brokenmachine wrote: post #139
jokoon wrote: post #35

I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like it is some sort of personal failure. Meanwhile I'm able to write about game ideas, code them, create some characters and story and background, even though it doesn't lead to anything since it's more of a hobby, but I fail to make it into a job. I love to think, create, try to design little things, and honestly that's the best pleasure I have…

>I always wonder: when their week is over, where do people find refuge? Sports, hobbies, entertainment? I just don't understand how people can think about leaving this world without having something that is really their own. How do you live when you're just a consumer? What happens if you lose friends? In my own conception of life, I just don't understand how people can not feel lost if they don't create something th…

> At the end of it all there will be nothing but the heat death of the universe.

I'm as non-religious as they come, but I often wonder about this. Any time I spend even a little bit of time thinking about this stuff, I always find myself turning to the thought that, if that truly is all there is, then why does anything exist at all? Like, even on the level of energy/matter. My brain just can't get past the logic of, if there truly isn't anything here at the end beyond a dead, near-infinite void, wouldn't it have been cheaper and simpler for literally nothing to ever exist? Why go through the hassle of all this matter creation?

It's just a really stubborn blocker for me. I get sort of stuck there and kind of throw up my arms and get to living as if some of this must matter somehow. I'm not saying it does. But the fact that matter exists, as opposed to there just simply being absolute never-nowhere-nothing, keeps me questioning.

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#169

Post by dang »

JudgeWapner wrote: post #118
alexbanks wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll note that I did not say it made me awesome, nor did I suggest anyone else should do it. In fact, I even added the "(mis)fortune)" to point out the obvious negative aspect to my statement. I literally just said those factors got me to where I am today. I did not imply where I am now is better than an alternative.

I wonder if being ignored by your parents also made you this hostile?

Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please don't post like this to HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Being Bored Is Good

#170

Post by spacegod »

cyberferret wrote: post #166
warent wrote: post #91

> Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. This seems a little bit like a fist-shaking "back in my day!" kind of judgemental statement. Music is a matter of taste and what you're approaching here doesn't relate to the topic.

I am going to have to back the parent comment about music, having had first hand experience with this. My son is currently trying to break into the music industry. He is a gifted guitarist and musician [0], but whenever he talks to music producers and execs, he is told that his songwriting is too complex, his songs too long (avg 4 minutes) and his lyrics too deep for the current generation of music buyers (read: teen…

As a millennial/gen z music person, the problem is that your son is a guitarist. Guitar rock is dead. Foo Fighters, Qotsa,tool offshoot bands are all too 2000's. Sample and synth based rock is alive. We can simply sample any guitar lines and warp them to fit the beat. No need to hire a guitarist.

Rock has moved on. It moved on in 2000 following the releases of Radiohead's Kid A, The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin, Outkast's Stankonia and the Avalanches' Since I Left You. All are rock records that have minimal guitar use. Factor in that the Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Madlib dominated 2000's production styles moving them towards sampling. The 2010's is even more towards this style with the emergence of vaporwave and the new jazz rap fusion that Kendrick Lamar, J Cole and Thundercat make.

I cannot think of the last time a guitar centric artist hit #1 outside of Post Malone. I don't even think Post Malone plays guitar on any of his hits either.

Lastly your kid is not deeper than the other kids lyrically. Get off of your high horse and stop leading your kid towards a path to hell.

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