palladias comments on How can I spend money to improve my life? - Less Wrong

15 Post author: jpaulson 02 February 2014 10:16AM

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Comment author: palladias 02 February 2014 06:25:59PM 5 points [-]

Why? Archery isn't a sport that builds muscle, fluent body movement or produces a high heart rate that helps the heart. To me it seems a suboptimal hobby for a rationalist.

Because it's neat! I took glassblowing in college, and (a) it was fun, (b) I get to see glass objects and puzzle out how they were made, and (c) I get to tell people I took glassblowing which makes people do a double take.

(I mean, c'mon, I get opportunities to tell people that one of my final exams in college was making a Hero Engine).

Archery seems similarly likely to make you feel awesome.

Comment author: ChristianKl 02 February 2014 07:45:23PM 1 point [-]

Archery seems similarly likely to make you feel awesome.

Opportunity cost. An improv comedy course does this as well.

(c) I get to tell people I took glassblowing which makes people do a double take.

Years ago I heard an audio book by Jim Rohm in which he made the point that even people without near-death experiences have intersting stories to tell.

I said to myself: "I do have had sort of a near-death experience but I still feel like I have no intersting stories to tell." After that day I stopped making that excuse.

I do have plenty of stories that signal much more uniqueness because they are not easily reconstructed. Everyone can imagine just signing up for a college course or an archery class.

If you want to signal specialness experiences that aren't easily simulated are better.