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Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Pretty much. His hope was that completing The Hock would make him attractive to women, who he thought were picking up on the fact that he hadn't done anything tough in his life.

https://manifold.markets/BenjaminIkuta/will-skookumtree-pinetree-successfu

Specifically, he believed women weren't interested in him because they want (and can magically sense) a man who has overcome mortal danger. Thus the Hock.

I think this position is true in principle. Women are attracted to men on a mission. That user's solution seemed extreme. But if he had directed his energies into making meaningful strides in his chosen passion (such as, say, hiking) then I think there would be a lot to commend in it. And, as a happy side effect, he may well have become more attractive, or at least more fulfilled.

Women are attracted to men on a mission

He is/was an American med student. If he'd toughed it out a few years longer, I think his difficulties in getting laid would have been greatly ameliorated. I'm sure some nurse would have snatched him up regardless of his weapons-grade autism!

I think there's definitely something to what you say: women are attracted to men who have drive, who are capable of doing things, etc. I just don't think that SkookumTree's position was defensible. He believed that it was specifically overcoming mortal peril that women valued, and that they only wanted men who had done this. That was going too far, but he refused to listen to the many people trying to point that out to him.