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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2190 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 13, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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What isnt? Sports, chess, literally anything that isnt a paid service?

Sports provide tremendous value as a source of community and social opportunity for fans. I've met some of my best friends through football - even if it added no other value to my life, paying the minor fees involved would be worth it. What's surprising about speedrunning is that it's incredible talent and dedication being put into a prestige race among communities which are mostly tiny and fully-online, and that it's talent that's more transferable to something useful. The physical and tactical talent a top athlete has could maybe be parlayed into being an effective soldier or a good oilfield worker, but that's not a loss to society comparable to having these speedrunning guys optimizing time on Sonic 2000 instead of optimizing some useful process. I guess the equivalent would be that a professional sportsman would be wasted in the Middle Ages when he could have become a knight instead. (And, indeed, some of the greatest knights, like William Marshal, started out as effectively their era's equivalent of pro athletes)

With chess I can agree. The type of person who is into speed running today might had been into chess 50 years ago.

Doing sports is at least actually good for your body and people who go pro are usually not the cognitive elite.

Paul Morphy, the best player ever, has said:

"The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life."

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