Earlier quoted context omitted.
For fans of the hitch hikers guide series, the name isn’t unusual. It’s the name of one of the books.
It's an unusual name for a person.
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The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
21–30 of 218 posts
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#22Somehow I read this and I'm not sure what the actual Unsettling Truth was, but it still was interesting, I learned a few new things, and I've been following this one pretty close. The more I read about this the more I'm reminded of Chris McCandless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
What an absurd story. Wikipedia lists one travel, in fact the first and last one. How sad. And why the heck do you venture out into the bushes only to live in a abandoned bus? I mean, yeah, how convenient. I can see that. But it is also weird.
When your goal is to be away from people, not necessarily shelter or technology.
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#23Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#24Somehow I read this and I'm not sure what the actual Unsettling Truth was, but it still was interesting, I learned a few new things, and I've been following this one pretty close. The more I read about this the more I'm reminded of Chris McCandless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
What an absurd story. Wikipedia lists one travel, in fact the first and last one. How sad. And why the heck do you venture out into the bushes only to live in a abandoned bus? I mean, yeah, how convenient. I can see that. But it is also weird.
I read the book by Krakauer a few years ago. Tragically, he could've crossed the river he thought was blocking his way back to civilization by a hand-operated cable car only 800 meters away from his shelter. He wandered into the wild without a good map.
To his credit, though, there is the possibility that he was simply unable to walk because he poisoned himself accidentally [0]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless#Lathyrism_due...
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#25Somehow I read this and I'm not sure what the actual Unsettling Truth was, but it still was interesting, I learned a few new things, and I've been following this one pretty close. The more I read about this the more I'm reminded of Chris McCandless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
What an absurd story. Wikipedia lists one travel, in fact the first and last one. How sad. And why the heck do you venture out into the bushes only to live in a abandoned bus? I mean, yeah, how convenient. I can see that. But it is also weird.
By being incredibly stupid mostly.
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#26Somehow I read this and I'm not sure what the actual Unsettling Truth was, but it still was interesting, I learned a few new things, and I've been following this one pretty close. The more I read about this the more I'm reminded of Chris McCandless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
The unsettling truth is that he was deeply troubled, and, at times, an abusive asshole who didn’t necessarily warrant quite as much compassion from strangers as he was given.
I’m open to the idea that it may not really matter, and everyone deserves the dignity to not be buried anonymously. But there were a lot of resources invested in this case because he looked very relatable in photos. He was very different from what people thought of him, and what motivated them, and therefore the truth is unsettling wrt that effort.
This doesn’t mean the effort was wrong, or that he was a monster not worthy of compassion. He was clearly fighting some demons, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, sometimes unleashing them on others. It defies easy moral judgements, and I believe the article does an excellent job saying as much.
But meanwhile, thousands die anonymously and unnoticed every year, and their photos and circumstances of death are far less compelling, but many if not most of them would have life stories that do not include multiple episodes of physically and psychologically abusing everyone close to them.
Compassionate efforts often cannot be shifted according to utilitarian calculations (which is one argument for getting together and making them someone’s actual job, in a process usually called “government”). But stories like this do maybe serve to make some people think about the best allocation of such efforts.
(The other unsettling truth is that HN can read this story and come away asking what people could possibly object to in his life story, and why one should believe the spouses (plural) that describe his dark side)
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#27Somehow I read this and I'm not sure what the actual Unsettling Truth was, but it still was interesting, I learned a few new things, and I've been following this one pretty close. The more I read about this the more I'm reminded of Chris McCandless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
The unsettling truth was that he was apparently an abusive malcontent who decided to run away from the problems he created once again.
And also that he basically left his life behind with no intention of ever coming back and hiked until he literally starved to death.
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#28TL;DR: This is about a hiker who went by the name Mostly Harmless who was found dead in his tent. No one knows how he died. That's it. But for the unusual name, it seems safe to say that this would not be on the front page of HN.
His photo gets posted to /r/brooklyn every few months. I really don't know what this story resonates so well with people.
Every day there are reports of many new missing/homeless/dead people, why is this man more important than all the others?
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#29Somehow I read this and I'm not sure what the actual Unsettling Truth was, but it still was interesting, I learned a few new things, and I've been following this one pretty close. The more I read about this the more I'm reminded of Chris McCandless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless
The unsettling truth was that he was apparently an abusive malcontent who decided to run away from the problems he created once again.
It sounds like he was aware enough of these flaws that he decided to do something about it. That's a lot better than some people who go a lifetime without ever being self-aware.
Re: The unsettling truth about the ‘Mostly Harmless’ hiker
#30TL;DR: This is about a hiker who went by the name Mostly Harmless who was found dead in his tent. No one knows how he died. That's it. But for the unusual name, it seems safe to say that this would not be on the front page of HN.
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