16 year old athlete breaks world record

This kid is amazing.
Velocity5says...

"This kid is amazing."

No, she's pouring her time down the toilet instead of contributing to humankind.

Excel at skills that are useful to global society and will increase your career outcomes and quality of life.

Asmosays...

>> ^Velocity5:

"This kid is amazing."
No, she's pouring her time down the toilet instead of contributing to humankind.
Excel at skills that are useful to global society and will increase your career outcomes and quality of life.


For a person so concerned with global society and quality of life, you seem entirely bereft of human spirit... Yes, this girl may not cure cancer, but then again neither will the waitress pouring you coffee. Everyone has to make their own way in the world and if people were a little less concerned with being judgemental and more concerned with doing things in their own life, we might just be living in a better world one day...

Gallowflaksays...

God help us if accomplishment, for its own sake, becomes unfashionable. Not every pursuit needs to have some great utility, and the human spirit needs attending at least as much as the human stomach.

Ambition, motivation and the drive to test our limits find different outlets in every person. Nobody should be demeaned who invests such time, and makes such an effort, to achieve something they think is important. It's inspiring in ways that lazy, sanctimonious naysaying can never be.

Velocity5says...

@Trancecoach @Asmo @Gallowflak

"Not every pursuit needs to have some great utility."


We're really just talking about Disney's The Grasshopper and the Ants, based on Aesop's ancient parable.

She doesn't realize that in merely 10 years at her highschool reunion, as their youthful charm will have started to fade, the people who strove to build awesome, challenging careers will be the ones who have grown the most personally and intellectually.

Encouraging people to do "whatever they want" lays waste to what could have been great lives. Encourage them instead to build lives that are useful to humankind, in which they grow more and more every year.

SDGundamXsays...

Right.

Clearly she should be more like you--surfing the Internet and making judgmental pronouncements about people's lives based on what you've seen of them in a three-minute news clip. That'll be immensely "useful to humankind."

>> ^Velocity5:

@Trancecoach @Asmo @Gallowflak
"Not every pursuit needs to have some great utility."

We're really just talking about Disney's The Grasshopper and the Ants, based on Aesop's ancient parable.
She doesn't realize that in merely 10 years at her highschool reunion, as their youthful charm will have started to fade, the people who strove to build awesome, challenging careers will be the ones who have grown the most personally and intellectually.
Encouraging people to do "whatever they want" lays waste to what could have been great lives. Encourage them instead to build lives that are useful to humankind, in which they grow more and more every year.

Asmosays...

>> ^Velocity5:

@Trancecoach @Asmo @Gallowflak
"Not every pursuit needs to have some great utility."

We're really just talking about Disney's The Grasshopper and the Ants, based on Aesop's ancient parable.
She doesn't realize that in merely 10 years at her highschool reunion, as their youthful charm will have started to fade, the people who strove to build awesome, challenging careers will be the ones who have grown the most personally and intellectually.
Encouraging people to do "whatever they want" lays waste to what could have been great lives. Encourage them instead to build lives that are useful to humankind, in which they grow more and more every year.


I think what we're dealing with here is hand spring envy...

Velocity5says...

@SDGundamX, Yes, she would of course be happier in a great career.

The tools to do that shouldn't be restricted to a small minority. We should want her to become an intellectual and grow over time in a challenging career.
>> ^SDGundamX:

Right.
Clearly she should be more like you--surfing the Internet and making judgmental pronouncements about people's lives based on what you've seen of them in a three-minute news clip. That'll be immensely "useful to humankind."
>> ^Velocity5:
@Trancecoach @Asmo @Gallowflak
"Not every pursuit needs to have some great utility."
We're really just talking about Disney's The Grasshopper and the Ants, based on Aesop's ancient parable.
She doesn't realize that in merely 10 years at her highschool reunion, as their youthful charm will have started to fade, the people who strove to build awesome, challenging careers will be the ones who have grown the most personally and intellectually.
Encouraging people to do "whatever they want" lays waste to what could have been great lives. Encourage them instead to build lives that are useful to humankind, in which they grow more and more every year.


SDGundamXsays...

I suspect you're trolling, so I'm going to let that complete non sequitur of a reply to my comment that you made stand for itself.

>> ^Velocity5:

@SDGundamX, Yes, she would of course be happier in a great career.
The tools to do that shouldn't be restricted to a small minority. We should want her to become an intellectual and grow over time in a challenging career.


>> ^SDGundamX:

Right.
Clearly she should be more like you--surfing the Internet and making judgmental pronouncements about people's lives based on what you've seen of them in a three-minute news clip. That'll be immensely "useful to humankind."

Velocity5says...

@SDGundamX

The connection between your comment and my response is: People in her position would indeed be happier with what I'm suggesting. Excel at useful skills, contribute to society, and reap more satisfying career outcomes.

Don't glorify wastes of time.

You're making accusations of trolling and non sequiturs as a reaction to being exposed to intellectualism different from your own.

Asmosays...

>> ^Velocity5:

@SDGundamX
The connection between your comment and my response is: People in her position would indeed be happier with what I'm suggesting. Excel at useful skills, contribute to society, and reap more satisfying career outcomes.
Don't glorify wastes of time.
You're making accusations of trolling and non sequiturs as a reaction to being exposed to intellectualism different from your own.


"Socially, “intellectualism” negatively connotes: single-mindedness of purpose (“too much attention to thinking”) and emotional coldness (“the absence of affection and feeling”)"

Describes you perfectly really. Who says wiki's aren't useful...

And I don't think I'm far wrong by guessing we have a philosophy major on our hands here folks. The telltales being overwhelming arrogance, pomposity and condescension masquerading as a genuine care for the greater good... Most likely from a person who has never actually accomplished anything more significant than perfecting a haughty sneer.

SDGundamXsays...

>> ^Velocity5:

@SDGundamX
The connection between your comment and my response is: People in her position would indeed be happier with what I'm suggesting. Excel at useful skills, contribute to society, and reap more satisfying career outcomes.
Don't glorify wastes of time.
You're making accusations of trolling and non sequiturs as a reaction to being exposed to intellectualism different from your own.


I'm making an accusation of non sequitur because that's exactly what your response was. My original comment was sarcastic for brevity's sake and basically said she should be more like you, a person who surfs the Internet and judges people based on YouTube clips. Your response was nonsensical--it basically said yes, she'd be much happier with that career. In fact, my initial reply to your comment was going to be something along the lines of: "Your career is to surf the Internet and judge the worth of people's lives? How much does that pay?"

Since you've clearly missed the illocutionary force of my sarcasm, let me break down the original comment for you a bit more bluntly.

You don't know jack shit about this girl aside from what you've seen of her in a 3 minute local news clip. You don't her goals and aspirations, her grades, whether or not she volunteers, has a part-time job already etc. and yet somehow you feel qualified to judge her life as a waste of time. You protest that she should be doing something for humanity without seeing the irony of the fact that by surfing the Net and commenting on videos you yourself are doing absolutely less for humanity than she is (at least she entertained thousands of people... can't say the same about your comments, sadly).

I didn't think anyone was ignorant or self-absorbed enough to NOT see the irony in your comments and thus concluded you were a troll. My sincerest apologies if I was wrong about that.

I still think you're trolling. In fact, I hope you are. Because the alternative is pretty sad.

chingalerasays...

Velocity5 sounds like one of the "people" who wrote the helpful suggestions to mankind found on the Georgia Guidestones.....

Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

I have a suggestion there for ya, sparky?? Perhaps what you perceive as some career or discipline that benefits mankind would be perceived as detrimental to the planet for someone else....What if your concept of reality is based on perceptive dysfunction distilled in you through an engineered psycho-cybernetic mind-fuck in order to create a member of the machine who sees only practical application and duty to the whole as beneficial?

The world needs insects. They carry out dutifully, tasks necessary to the functioning of systems....
She also needs artisans, musicians, and quantum theorists, eh? There's a balance to consider here Chim-Chim....Thank God for people working in refineries and perky chicks poppin' flips, so I may continue my tenure here on "PLANET PRACTICAL" with some relief from the CORN-COB-UP-ASS types determined to make it uncomfortable and boring.
Rather be here than in the Terminator world, Slim!

brycewi19says...

>> ^Velocity5:

@SDGundamX
The connection between your comment and my response is: People in her position would indeed be happier with what I'm suggesting. Excel at useful skills, contribute to society, and reap more satisfying career outcomes.
Don't glorify wastes of time.
You're making accusations of trolling and non sequiturs as a reaction to being exposed to intellectualism different from your own.


Do one thing for me.


Define your use of the word "useful" and let me know if everyone in the world agrees with that definition.

To this girl, doing what she did very well may be considered by and by many as "useful". It's a relative term.

You are failing to see the intangible strengths she is displaying by pursuing and accomplishing this goal of hers. Strengths that are easily transferable and applicable to "useful" careers.

Shepppardsays...

I actually gotta say i'm really not impressed. I'm not going down the "She's wasting her life" route, she dedicated herself to something and saw it through, good for her.

What i'm not impressed by is the fact that this qualifies as a world record. It's always been a silly notion to me, everything can be qualified as a world record. There's at least 40+ world records having to do with sitting, one of them being "Longest phone call with ones dad while sitting on someone elses shoulders."

I mean.. really? To me, a world record only matters to things that truly push the limits of human beings. People being able to run faster, jump farther. Hell, even people that can eat more than others. Something that actually includes an inkling of skill and a small step towards the bettermant of mankind through its action, this only just falls under that category because It's somewhat demanding physically to do so.

But I still maintain that world records are by and large a joke.

Velocity5says...

@SDGundamX

I remember you as being an intellectual in other threads, so I'll reply to your comment.

"Your career is to surf the Internet and judge the worth of people's lives? How much does that pay?"

No, my career is in the tech industry, where I'm a young team lead who is smarter and nicer than most. I have a small amount of free time sometimes, and I enjoy debates with smart people so I can refine my understanding of the marketplace of ideas.

I grew up in an insufficient family, so I have compassion for people who are trying to do their best.

Velocity5says...

@SDGundamX

The next time you see something that you wish society had, like vacuum-tube trains, or the cure that was needed for that loved one who died, remember that the reason we can't have them is the population doesn't care about opportunity cost.

The opportunity cost of living life for instinctual pleasure instead of productivity is that we cannot have the fruits of productivity (vacuum-tube trains).



Just to be clear: even though this cheerleader is unlikely to become a scientist, the higher her economic output is, the more she contributes to the ability of scientists to do their work.

SDGundamXsays...

@Velocity5

Thanks for clarifying your philosophy. Just to quote the Wiki page for "opportunity cost"quickly:

"Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the next best alternative forgone (that is not chosen)."

If people didn't care about opportunity cost, capitalism simply could not work. The problem you're describing is not that people don't care about opportunity cost, it's that different people value different things.

You seem to think economic productivity should be the only thing people value. And you're entitled to your opinion. But I think, as you noticed from the comments on this thread, that most people find that point of view to be repugnant--for what we think should be pretty obvious reasons.

One reason would be that such a viewpoint, if carried to its logical conclusion, would dismiss all arts, sports, and other leisurely pursuits as wastes of time. In your free time, if you're not working on ways of making yourself more productive, you're holding back the the economy/science. People are no longer people in such a world view, but are reduced merely to numbers representing their productivity. And in such a world what do we do with those who are unproductive (i.e. the disabled, the elderly, etc.)? If productivity is all you value then clearly such obstacles to progress should be eliminated. Or at the very least treated with the same derision you showed this cheerleader.

Are you starting to see why people responded so negatively to your comments?

Velocity5says...

@SDGundamX

Yes, "people value different things," but we can change what we value when it makes sense to do so.

People would enjoy having the chance to earn double their income at a more interesting job.

When a careerist and a hedonist start in the same place and are friends in high school, 10 or 20 years later you'd be amazed at how much smarter the careerist becomes than the hedonist (individuals who prioritize pleasure over productivity).

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