I always see this as a sign of how rich we are. How else could we have the opportunity to be so self-indulgent?
Things we take for granted such as paved streets or cars are tremendously expensive. San Jose (Costa Rica) has one 4-lane US-style highway that goes through town for a few miles, then it turns into a 2-lane concrete and eventually dirt road. And that's a healthy country with a decent-sized middle class.
I actually like to see these kinds of experiments since the fact that they exist means our society still has wealth and opportunity. Just don't confuse them with actual sacrifice.
It can help if those arbitrary challenges are in some way helpful to society.
Setting a goal of say genuinely helping X number of people on stackoverflow or http://ask.sqlservercentral.com is more significant than setting a goal of a high record in Asteroids. Helping the poor or setting a goal of making a useful open source project are more significant still.
In short, succeeding in doing something both productive and challenging > succeeding in random challenge that is not productive.
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If life isn't fulfilling enough, just make up some sort of arbitrary challenge for yourself. That way you can be successful!
I always see this as a sign of how rich we are. How else could we have the opportunity to be so self-indulgent?
Things we take for granted such as paved streets or cars are tremendously expensive. San Jose (Costa Rica) has one 4-lane US-style highway that goes through town for a few miles, then it turns into a 2-lane concrete and eventually dirt road. And that's a healthy country with a decent-sized middle class.
I actually like to see these kinds of experiments since the fact that they exist means our society still has wealth and opportunity. Just don't confuse them with actual sacrifice.
It can help if those arbitrary challenges are in some way helpful to society.
Setting a goal of say genuinely helping X number of people on stackoverflow or http://ask.sqlservercentral.com is more significant than setting a goal of a high record in Asteroids. Helping the poor or setting a goal of making a useful open source project are more significant still.
In short, succeeding in doing something both productive and challenging > succeeding in random challenge that is not productive.
The joys of manufactured challenges of modern day life.