4 ms·
> Which leads us to the second feature of this kind of obsession: there is no point. A bus ticket collector's love is disinterested. They're not doing it to imp
by DJHenk 7y ago
> Which leads us to the second feature of this kind of obsession: there is no point. A bus ticket collector's love is disinterested. They're not doing it to impress us or to make themselves rich, but for its own sake.
I don't agree with this. They might very well do it to impress others. Most of all, they do it to impress each other. Go to any specialized forum of subreddit and you will find members arguing over details in order to gain respect. If I say X, you say Y and in the end X 'wins', I have gained some status. Bus ticket collectors are people, just like us, and need validation from their peers.
- spydum 7y agoI think there is room for three types of folks along this dimension. Yes, some people enjoy the validation, but there are plenty of obsessive folks who simply don't care for the validation. They take delight in the subject matter independent of peers.
- usrusr 7y agoDefinitely a lot of peer validation in niche obsession. But the single person niche exists as well (and people in a bigger niche, but isolated), and there the only person to impress is oneself. A bigger the niche means that chances to stumble upon something still undiscovered are lower, so peer validation is irrelevant or maybe even a negative signal for obsessions that might turn into genious.