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Comment by noelwelsh | Hacker News Reader

When I think about dance, it's about the algebraic structure in it. E.g. translating moves between different levels, transitions between moves, and so on. That, and the movement options that increased physical capabilities unlock. So nothing like what OP thinks about. Not a criticism of what they've written; just a different perspective.

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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49694659

It's most obvious in very formalized dance, but even in street dance, which emphasises freestyling, you can still find this kind of structure. There are videos of bboys talking how they come up with moves, and they'll talk about applying transforms (reverse, invert, change level, etc.) to existing moves, or combining parts of existing moves together. It's very far from everything in the dance, but it's a useful lens to guide exploration.

An example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCpXbHpy9LY

Once again, I’m not at all surprised that tech people can’t simply enjoy the activity for its own sake, but instead impose their calculating, utility-driven mindset on something that is truly beautiful and brings people together. An absolutely bleak perspective.

Don't tell me how I should enjoy my hobby.

I wouldn't knock neuroatypical people's attempt to overcome their faulty wiring and do something that could socially benefit them, even if the perspective they are doing it from is strange. RMS has spoken about how getting into Bulgarian folk dance was good for him.

> tech people can’t simply enjoy the activity for its own sake

How is this possibly your take away from someone describing how they see something? You know nothing about this person, yet conclude they have a bleak perspective, yet you're the one who is criticizing someone for merely thinking and talking about an activity.

Let people enjoy activities in the way they want. If they want to endlessly analyze and discuss the mechanical details about it, or if they just want to stand on the top of a roof in the rain and dance, who cares? They're both "enjoying" the activity, just in different ways.

The OP's ridicule does make sense. Think about how in Star Trek TNG, Data's description of everyday hobbies and pursuits in logic-speak was used to lend humor to episodes, "Haha, he's so weird". And people often say now that character was a better depiction of an autist than a far-future android.

It would make sense if they actually had seen GP being distracted from the activity itself because they overthink about it.

Here though, we're on a forum, explicitly designed for conversing and discussing things, and they're assuming GP has a bleak perspective because they're actively engaging in the conversation.

That in my mind doesn't make any sense and I'd say is (inadvertently maybe) trying to shut down the conversation instead of curiously engaging with it.

Algebra is beautiful. Dance is beautiful. The two together?

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