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Comment by enneff | Hacker News Reader

> Under your logic, running on a treadmill is a bad idea because you're not actually going anywhere.

I find this style of debating tedious in the same way. Why run on a treadmill when you can run outside?

1. It's raining 2. It's cold 3. Poor air quality 4. Running surfaces are all paved 5. Lack of water 6. High temperature 7. UV exposure 8. Desire to watch a movie much higher than desire to exercise. 9. Required proximity to person, for example taking care of a sick loved one. 10. Uncertainty about the amount of time available to run

Move to the Bay Area. ;-)

Kids in highschool usually don't have that choice.

A bunch of excuses but no really good reasons. Besides, my question was a rhetorical response to a metaphorical device.

One might even say, it was a statement whose goal was to win an argument, and not to uncover underlying truth? ;P

> A bunch of excuses but no really good reasons.

How do you distinguish between an 'excuse' and a 'reason'? It seems the terms are near-synonyms, only distinguishable to the extent one is an insult.

Running outside is the same, at the end of the day you return to the same place you started. The point isn't to get somewhere fast, it's just to run. We do it because we want to be healthy and athletic people. In the same way, you join debate not to get at the truth, but to increase your mental abilities.

I guess what I mean is: why not use your energies to produce something of value, instead?

You have a good point here - why not just learn to understand and articulate arguments by doing something productive for the world rather than competing against one another in pointless weekend tournaments?

It makes no sense to compare debate to radically different activities (like programming or starting a startup). I'm not arguing that debate was the best thing that anyone can do, rather that it's a worthwhile and not totally bullshit activity. I understand if you don't want to do it (different strokes for different folks) but I gained a lot from it and I think it deserves a certain amount of respect. I would never disparage a tennis player for having wasted his time just because I find it tedious running back and forth. I would respect him and want to learn about tennis from him.

Running outside doesn't produce something of value, so I guess you are shifting your position.

Running gives you better health, so if you value your health then running, even on treadmill, already gives you something of values.

So you can get better at creating things of value later?

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