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Comment by matz1 | Hacker News Reader

>pointless self-destruction and misery.

Maybe its pointless for you, fair enough but it can be meaningfull for other people, i myself think it's interesting.

Well said.

Depending on people's level of courage, or lackthereof, all sports might seem like pointless self-destruction and misery. Heck, even basketball or ice curling.

Heck, I would never in my right-mind try grinding a rail on a skateboard after seeing some kid break his leg on a bad landing.

But just cause it looks insane to me doesn't mean it has no value or merit.

Not to mention that it makes a fun video game on the PS2.

I recommend the YouTube rabbit hole of Alex Honnold interviews, whenever he talks about risk it's interesting.

honnold may be a special case. his capabilities of dealing with risk and fear are exceptional.

Why is he a special case. There are hundreds if not 1000s of people that want to be risk takers for no other reason then the risk its self

You're right. Just visit GoPros youtube channel. There's no shortage of adrenaline seekers.

I'd say it's partly that, but more a case of survivorship bias; we don't hear from other solo free climbers because most of them are dead.

citation needed

Edit: It's not like these climbers never climb with gear. That is, they don't have to confront the learning curve and fatal consequences at the same time. They can also learn safely via bouldering, climbing above water and such.

Yes, that's sort of why I recommended his interviews, because he's given it a lot of thought and has interesting things to say about risk (I imagine even if he initially didn't think a ton about it, people constantly asking has given him some good answers) in addition to the explanation that these climbs are prepared for in advance.

He has a unique perspective, I've heard on a couple occasions him talking about his father dropping dead of a heart attack changing planes. I can't find the exact video or I'd link it, but he's clearly thought a lot about risk and is pretty interesting to listen to even if you're not enamored with his exploits.

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/one-mans...

>Many have poured scorn on Curry’s venture, particularly since it doesn’t have a charitable component. “This is the most pathetic waste of man hours that could have been used for good that I’ve seen in a long time,” one typical YouTube comment says. On the forum where he first heard about Dick Tree’s idea, Curry posted a spirited, if nihilistic, rebuttal. “To say that our lives are pointless and our achievements meaningless is to state the obvious,” he wrote. “No matter how grand our achievements or how broad their scope, time turns all to dust and death destroys all memory. But that does not mean we cannot ascribe our own meaning to what we do.”

This argument was had when Jackie Stewart campaigned to make Formula 1 safe. Fortunately he prevailed, but there were plenty of people - even other drivers - arguing that the danger was an intrinsic part of the sport.

Just look how much safer racing has become since it's inception. And also at the same time, the sport has become magnitudes faster. There's no reason we can't have faster, more exciting, and safer all at the same time. It's just another challenge to the sport.

matz should not be downvoted. Humans do lots of objectively pointless self-destruction like things as a hobby with increasing risks. Things like human powered flight, aerogliding and sky diving, parkour, climbing steep things with and without gear, driving at high speeds around bends, 'explore' the wild, many of which we celebrate, reward and encourage.

If it were meaningful for the athletes, they would not be taking their own lives after clearly struggling in complete misery for years; clearly even endangering lives of loved ones. You can tell most just don't understand what they signed up for.

In any case, we're rewarding and glorifying this activity. It's not just there, of course people are free to do as they please. We're making them go through this sacrifice (that clearly leaves great damage) for a reward of glory, fame or just money. If you give gold medals for it, no matter how pointless, unfulfilling and destructive it is, someone will do it. It's our responsibility.

When there are really beautiful sports out there, that players really clearly enjoy, and which are reasonably healthy (of course to an extent every activity has risks), there's simply no excuse.

When the sport is on Olympic and we encourage people to push themselves to maximum or encourage kids to pick it up, then it is not anymore about individual feeling from risk.

It is risk taken to earn.

But that's no reason to make it an Olympic sport, thus encouraging people to take more risks.

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