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You're very, very wrong. Be many different people over the course of your life. Try many different things, lose friends, make friends. Life is variety, and eac

You're very, very wrong. Be many different people over the course of your life. Try many different things, lose friends, make friends. Life is variety, and each new experience will teach you things you can apply in different ways. It's good to excel in one thing, but you have to be good all-round. And not being a geeky dork is a good way to get started. Just because you start out one way (it's your parents who actually made that decision for you) does not mean you should end up that way. There's one guy who you have to believe made the right decision based on the circumstances he was in - that's young ryan. Don't second guess young ryan, he did what he felt he needed to do. Don't go back and belittle his decision. Instead, use his experience to make better and better decisions moving forward. He was right, and now you have grown more conservative and blame him for that. Don't. Every new thing you do in life is the right thing.

ryanwaggoner 16y ago
Every new thing you do in life is the right thing. Sorry, couldn't disagree more. To take an extreme example, I could go out and rape or murder someone, which I've never done before. But that's definitely not the right thing. Decisions have consequences, and should be weighed accordingly. I agree that we should always be seeking to expand our horizons, to experience new things, to grow as individuals. And I have. But if that lust for novelty is your only moral compass, you're in for a rough ride.
- maxklein 16y ago
  Morality aside, murdering someone is a new experience that you will likely learn a lot from. Of course, there are highly negative consequences that you would not want to deal with. And of course, you are hurting other people...literary. If you decide to murder someone, then you have to agree to support the decisions of your past self.
- derefr 16y ago
  Horrible strawman—though, in theory, you "could" go out and rape or murder someone, there is likely no you from the current you whose biological processes would predetermine those actions (or, in simpler terms, "you don't have it in you.") You can't get there from here—you wouldn't allow yourself to start. On the other hand, everywhere that you can go, every you you can be without you evaluating you-prime negatively, you should become.
  - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
    there is likely no you from the current you whose biological processes would predetermine those actions ... every you you can be without you evaluating you-prime negatively, you should become. Not really grasping how choice plays into your view of reality. Am I predetermined through biological processes, or do I have a choice to become the things I should become?
jacquesm 16y ago
He's not wrong any more than you aren't wrong. He's just living a different life than you are because you are both very different people, and what works for one does not work for the other. You've taken the 'Be many different people over the course of your life.' to it's literal extreme where you left behind your old self like a butterfly leaves behind the caterpillar, but that does not mean that that is for everybody.

ryanwaggoner 16y ago

Every new thing you do in life is the right thing. Sorry, couldn't disagree more. To take an extreme example, I could go out and rape or murder someone, which I've never done before. But that's definitely not the right thing. Decisions have consequences, and should be weighed accordingly. I agree that we should always be seeking to expand our horizons, to experience new things, to grow as individuals. And I have. But if that lust for novelty is your only moral compass, you're in for a rough ride.

maxklein 16y ago
Morality aside, murdering someone is a new experience that you will likely learn a lot from. Of course, there are highly negative consequences that you would not want to deal with. And of course, you are hurting other people...literary. If you decide to murder someone, then you have to agree to support the decisions of your past self.
derefr 16y ago
Horrible strawman—though, in theory, you "could" go out and rape or murder someone, there is likely no you from the current you whose biological processes would predetermine those actions (or, in simpler terms, "you don't have it in you.") You can't get there from here—you wouldn't allow yourself to start. On the other hand, everywhere that you can go, every you you can be without you evaluating you-prime negatively, you should become.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  there is likely no you from the current you whose biological processes would predetermine those actions ... every you you can be without you evaluating you-prime negatively, you should become. Not really grasping how choice plays into your view of reality. Am I predetermined through biological processes, or do I have a choice to become the things I should become?

jacquesm 16y ago

He's not wrong any more than you aren't wrong. He's just living a different life than you are because you are both very different people, and what works for one does not work for the other. You've taken the 'Be many different people over the course of your life.' to it's literal extreme where you left behind your old self like a butterfly leaves behind the caterpillar, but that does not mean that that is for everybody.