7 ms·
Why are people going up there? What is the reward?
by lqet 7y ago
Why are people going up there? What is the reward?
- ACow_Adonis 7y agostatus, personal achievement.
- lqet 7y agoStatus? Just look at the picture, you're one in a few hundred.
- maltalex 7y agoThat’s not the picture you show at the dinner party.
- drcode 7y agoNot everybody is going to read that article, so some of the status still remains.
- dorfsmay 7y agoIt's been all over the news this past week.
- Apocryphon 7y agoIt takes a certain level of affluence to climb Everest, so there’s a covert class status signaling too.
- kraftman 7y agoEqually you're a few hundred in a few billion.
- crimsonalucard 7y agoThe historical significance that everest represent precedes the reputation temporarily handed to it by a single internet article.
- lqet 7y agoThe historical significance that crossing the Atlantic represents precedes the reputation temporarily handed to it by climate activists. But someone taking a cruise ship from Europe to the US is still no new Christopher Columbus. I understand your fascination, but whatever reward there was in climbing Mt. Everest has already been given to Tenzing and Hillary. Let me therefore rephrase my question: what reward for mankind is there today in climbing Mt. Everest?
- crimsonalucard 7y agoI'm not fascinated. I'm simply trying to convey to you an obvious fact about human nature. I'm simply saying there's a reason why people visit the great wall of China even though they can simply see a picture of it on the internet for free. It's the historical significance of the site. Same for the reason why people visit the summit of everest. It's that freaking simple. Let me answer your rephrased question. There is no reward for mankind for climbing everest. None. zilch. That simple. There wasn't even a reward for Tenzing and Hillary to climb it. There's no real reward for going to the moon either. Sure you can talk about research and science for the moon landing but the cost outweighed the benefits by several hundred billion. Thus logically there's no way we went to the moon for science. Likely we went to the moon to be better than the Russians. All I'm saying is whatever it is that drove the first people to the moon and the first people to the summit of mount Everest is the same thing that's driving tourists to the top of Mt Everest. Get it? It costs 50k to go up now so why the heck not? I am literally trying to explain human psychology to you, I am not overly fascinated by summiting Mt. Everest, going to the moon or Human achievement. I am just illustrating to you and giving you perspective on what this thing is that is making people go there DESPITE zero reward. Because zero reward for climbing everest is the obvious answer to your question. Your real question is why the heck are people doing this Despite zero benefit to mankind. The snarkiness to my answer is that even this question has an obvious answer. Ever been on a vacation to a famous landmark? Ever hike to the top of a summit for no reason? Well if you did, then you know the answer.
- crimsonalucard 7y agoWhat's the reward for going to the moon?
- Nicksil 7y agoDiscovery, science, research, etc.
- crimsonalucard 7y agoThose use to be the reasons the first summitters of everest use to give for their reasoning. But we both know, you can just send a probe. We both know that these are not the main reasons why we sent a man to the moon. We sent a man to the moon because we could.
- lqet 7y agoThere is a significant difference in nearly every thinkable aspect between an astronaut conquering other planets and a tourist climbing a mountain.
- crimsonalucard 7y agoRight and I obviously didn't know this thanks for illustrating this new and exciting fact. Obviously climbing a mountain is much more trivial then going to the moon. Additionally, climbing everest is now a really touristy activity that basically anyone can do... But this wasn't always the case. Everest use to be a huge unattainable challenge and finally reaching the summit was a historical achievement. Now summitting everest has been commercialized to the point where any man can do it. But the cultural artifact still exists in a way. It still holds the reputation of being a milestone for humanity... the difference now is for ONLY 50k you can achieve this milestone too! (tm) Ultimately I wait for the day when tourism to the moon becomes so commercialized, disgusting, cheap and fake that someone literally comes to HN and asks the question: What's the reward for going to another planet? and to this I respond: What's the reward for going to another star? and some other snarky commenter says: There is a significant difference in nearly every thinkable aspect between an astronaut conquering another star and a tourist going to visit some planet. And I'll retort: Right and I obviously didn't know this thanks for illustrating this new and exciting fact. Obviously going to another planet is much more trivial then going to alpha centuari. Additionally, going to another planet is now a really touristy activity that basically anyone can do... But this wasn't always the case. Visiting other planets use to be a huge unattainable challenge and finally reaching another one was a historical achievement. Now going to another planet has been commercialized to the point where any man can do it. But the cultural artifact still exists in a way. It still holds the reputation of being a milestone for humanity... the difference now is for ONLY 50k you can achieve this milestone too! (tm) Ultimately I wait for the day when light speed travel to other stars becomes so commercialized, disgusting, cheap and fake that someone literally comes to HN and asks the question: What's the reward for going to another star? and to which I respond: What was the reward for climbing everest?
- booleandilemma 7y agoA selfie for the ‘gram, of course. And something to tell the coworkers on Monday.
- maltalex 7y agoBragging rights?
- zyngaro 7y agoI cannot speak of others but that mountains (and high peaks in general) are are fascinating.
- crimsonalucard 7y agoI get you, but it's more than that for everest.
- linuxftw 7y agoThe reward is likes on your social media page. There's nothing more important than being self absorbed.