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Comment by kubb | Hacker News Reader

Or, hear me out, adults are boring, because they spend most of their lives in a job where they fulfill uninspiring, repetitive tasks.

More broadly, the real world seems boring, because your interaction with it is repetitive. You see, hear, do, talk about and think things that you've already seen, heard, talked about and thought before.

Things feel fresh, new and exciting when they're different from what you're used to, but not completely alien. E.g. travel to exotic places, fantasy novels, meeting new people.

Of course the theory about peasants on the road is an interesting perspective. But explaining social phenomena is not always possible using such parallels, neat as they may seem.

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> travel to exotic places, fantasy novels, meeting new people.

Interesting for the actor, perhaps, but probably still boring for the observer. Generally, there is nothing interesting about people doing those things. They are common things people commonly do. A lifelong hermit who has never met another person finally deciding it is time to meet someone would be interesting, but that's an exceptional case.

Which brings us back to the article questioning why people don't shake things up sometimes. Like, why didn't the preacher at church not wear a KISS costume last Sunday? That would be interesting for me to see. It could become boring if done regularly, but one time out of the blue to the shock and awe of the congregation would be quite interesting. Is there some underlying mechanism that would keep said preacher from being willing to do that?

I don't know what religious community you're part of. Chances are, it's mostly adults and they have certain expectations about the attire of the preacher.

The community likely has its norms, and such a costume would violate them, i.e. be too alien for the participants to be able to appreciate it.

The preacher might still shake things up by introducing new subjects to a sermon or singing new songs, but there's only so much they can do. Which is why churches are usually boring.

> Chances are, it's mostly adults and they have certain expectations about the attire of the preacher.

Right, so he is worried that the congregation will become, as the article puts it, 'social predators' and use his actions against him. That's exactly it. It's funny that so many comments here deny that this would ever happen.

Most young people are also working. I don't see how that matters.

As you get older there are just less new first experiences to have.

Falling in love for the 20th time can never feel like the first. Another great Thai meal can never have the kick of the first with having no idea what to expect.

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