251–260 of 266 posts
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* There's more to life than staying alive.* um... what?
"Every man dies. Not every man really lives."
If you enjoy doing something, do it. Don't do it so you can add it to your list of life experiences so you can pretend that you've lived a better life than somebody who hasn't done it.
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Nobody would want to go? I'd go to friggin Mars, just to step on its red soil. I'd go there on a one way trip to stay there and die and I'd sign up tomorrow. If I only could. But sadly modern world is too worried about my well-being to let me do something like that.
> But sadly modern world is too worried about my well-being to let me do something like that Not really. Many of the people actually working towards going to Mars probably feel as you do. The problem is it's actually hard (technologically and politically).
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"Every man dies. Not every man really lives."
Risking your life climbing a mountain is no more "living", than sitting at home with your family watching tv is. Romanticised bullshit. If you enjoy doing something, do it. Don't do it so you can add it to your list of life experiences so you can pretend that you've lived a better life than somebody who hasn't done it.
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Risking your life climbing a mountain is no more "living", than sitting at home with your family watching tv is. Romanticised bullshit. If you enjoy doing something, do it. Don't do it so you can add it to your list of life experiences so you can pretend that you've lived a better life than somebody who hasn't done it.
I think what is required to even get the change to summit Everest weeds out any people who are just there so they can "pretend they've lived a better life".
Note, I'm not talking about everyone that does it, just most people.
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Have you read Blind Descent? One of the things that most struck me was that cave diving is more dangerous, fatality-rate-wise, than space exploration.
Space is inherently dangerous, but since it's so high visibility (and funded by deep pockets), they can use technology to reduce the risk below most activities. I think they go too far in reducing the risk -- I'd accept a 10% fatality rate for important space missions if everyone was a volunteer, if it improved the rate of progress. We know how to do diving in worse environments than caves relatively safely -- commer…
But would the volunteers accept it? Heh, you're "willing to take risks" with other people's lives, that's the most callous thing I've heard this morning.
Not attacking you, just saying your choice of wording is funny. I assume you are probably implying that all the volunteers know of and accept the risk.
During the few moments I've been typing this, I've gotten to thinking, does how someone answers the question "do the ends justify the means?" say much about what sort of person they are? I guess my answer would vary depending on what the ends were. Sometimes, I would answer yes even in situations where it made others disgusted with me. Sometimes I'd say no at the cost of many lives.
We're all a convoluted mix of conflicting ideals, I guess. C'est la vie.
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I think what is required to even get the change to summit Everest weeds out any people who are just there so they can "pretend they've lived a better life".
I disagree. Most of the time when people do stuff like this, they do it just so they can tell other people that they've done it. They don't do it for the experience, they do it for the bragging rights. Note, I'm not talking about everyone that does it, just most people.
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I disagree. Most of the time when people do stuff like this, they do it just so they can tell other people that they've done it. They don't do it for the experience, they do it for the bragging rights. Note, I'm not talking about everyone that does it, just most people.
Dude, you are talking so far out your ass that your small intestine is showing.
I recently got back (almost exactly a month ago) from a month long climbing trip in Nepal with some friends. We had three guides, all three of whom have climbed Everest multiple times. One of our guides, who has summited 5 times, described Everest as his "bad habit". As a relative newbie to high altitude mountaineering (the highest I got was ~19,850 feet), climbing in Nepal was really, really hard. You are never warm…
I'm going to go ahead and judge. 1 in 10. Your have a 10% chance of dying if you attempt a summit, right? How much pain is your untimely death going to cause if it happens? How many everest orphans and widows are there? Include in that the considerable cost and time investment to do this when you could be creating something, exploring something that has a conceivable chance of helping humanity, or just plain investin…
Thanks for the link O.P, it really made an impact on certain priorities and perspective.
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How much pain is your untimely death going to cause if it happens? How many everest orphans and widows are there? Include in that the considerable cost and time investment to do this when you could be creating something, exploring something that has a conceivable chance of helping humanity, or just plain investing in helping others. No, this is a hugely selfish act. I was going to create a startup, but unfortunately…
Yeah, because comparing something that, if it pays off, will put your family into the lap of luxury, and if it doesn't you can go back to your old life with something that offers no intrinsic value or reward if it pays off, and if it doesn't leaves you dead on the side of a mountain where people name the feature after the colour of your boots is an apples to apples comparison. Good one.
My point, however, was that I do not presume to judge others based on the risks that they take in their own lives. The juxtaposition I was trying to make is that people comfortable in their corporate lives might say it's selfish or crazy to persue one's dreams of creating a startup at significant financial risk, just like some people here are saying it's selfish or crazy to want to climb Everest.
Is skydiving a suicidal activity? Are surfers that risk shark attacks or storm chasers that follow tornadoes nothing more than stupid, selfish, suicidal sacks of meat? I personally don't think so, but you are of course entitled to an opinion all of your own.
By the way, I'm more than happy to converse different opinions in a civilized manner; bleeding sarcasm isn't necessary to get your point across.
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Dude, you are talking so far out your ass that your small intestine is showing.
Ok. Nobody ever does anything for bragging rights.