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No one really needs to be near other people. I think just keep it going. A lot of industries really aren’t essential to life. Maybe we should question why we ne

No one really needs to be near other people. I think just keep it going. A lot of industries really aren’t essential to life. Maybe we should question why we need them. Theme parks, sports, gyms.

PakG1 7y ago
Physiologically, no, we don't. Psychologically? I think there will be issues. For your sports example, there is definitely a primal need being fulfilled, otherwise athletic competitions would not have existed in ancient times. It's true that many industries aren't essential to life. That doesn't mean they're not essential to wellbeing.
- JadeNB 7y ago
  > Physiologically, no, we don't. The grandparent mentions gyms as one of these non-essential institutions, and they or their equivalent are something we need even physiologically. The impacts on health of not being able to get out and move regularly, much less to have serious exercise, are going to worsen the already serious problem of obesity.
  - PakG1 7y ago
    To be fair, you don't need a gym to get out and move regularly or have serious exercise. Lot of people just got in the park every day, and plenty of exercises exist that use only body weight for strength training. You're not going to become Arnie in his prime, but you'll be fit.
    - JadeNB 7y ago
      I agree that there are things one can do (and I do get out in the park as often as convenient, but social distancing there is hard), but are there things one will do? I'm in reasonably good shape from indoor climbing, but that only works because I like doing it so much that I don't notice I'm exercising. So far, the inertia of having to set up a body-weight routine (rather than continue with my existing climbing-gym routine) has kept me constantly attending to other things first, so barely active. And that's someone with a habit of physical activity who really dislikes having to skip the routines—so what about those people without such a habit?
sxg 7y ago
Seriously? Your argument is that we should get rid of things that aren’t essential to life? And you include gyms in that list? I wonder how you view human well-being, leisure activities, hobbies, and activities that may have secondary benefits (e.g. Formula 1’s impact on the automotive industry).
thaumasiotes 7y ago
> No one really needs to be near other people. This isn't true now or at any point when "humans" were an identifiable concept. We're not solitary animals. If you made everyone live alone, we might well go extinct. People do vary in how much contact they need with other people. Some people will quickly become mentally ill if they're not getting enough social contact. I'm quite far over at the other end of the spectrum... but after living in China with no social group for several months, a friendly cashier greeting me in English with "Welcome to Lotus" was enough to get a very positive reaction from me.
wanda 7y ago
If that's going to be the prevailing attitude once this pandemic is brought under control, it would seem I picked a doubly bad time to quit programming and become a restaurateur.
sys_64738 7y ago
Won't the population die out then?
joppy 7y ago
Some would argue that having fun and feeling fulfilled are essential to life, and for some that would put those three things firmly on the list. And interacting with other people is (in my opinion) basically the point of being alive, and it’s much easier to do if you’re near them. Really if we only needed things that were essential to life, each of us could be living in a broom cupboard doing nothing and drinking Soylent for sustenance, but what kind of life would that be?

No one really needs to be near other people. I think just keep it going. A lot of industries really aren’t essential to life. Maybe we should question why we need them. Theme parks, sports, gyms.

PakG1 7y ago

Physiologically, no, we don't. Psychologically? I think there will be issues. For your sports example, there is definitely a primal need being fulfilled, otherwise athletic competitions would not have existed in ancient times. It's true that many industries aren't essential to life. That doesn't mean they're not essential to wellbeing.

JadeNB 7y ago
> Physiologically, no, we don't. The grandparent mentions gyms as one of these non-essential institutions, and they or their equivalent are something we need even physiologically. The impacts on health of not being able to get out and move regularly, much less to have serious exercise, are going to worsen the already serious problem of obesity.
- PakG1 7y ago
  To be fair, you don't need a gym to get out and move regularly or have serious exercise. Lot of people just got in the park every day, and plenty of exercises exist that use only body weight for strength training. You're not going to become Arnie in his prime, but you'll be fit.
  - JadeNB 7y ago
    I agree that there are things one can do (and I do get out in the park as often as convenient, but social distancing there is hard), but are there things one will do? I'm in reasonably good shape from indoor climbing, but that only works because I like doing it so much that I don't notice I'm exercising. So far, the inertia of having to set up a body-weight routine (rather than continue with my existing climbing-gym routine) has kept me constantly attending to other things first, so barely active. And that's someone with a habit of physical activity who really dislikes having to skip the routines—so what about those people without such a habit?

sxg 7y ago

Seriously? Your argument is that we should get rid of things that aren’t essential to life? And you include gyms in that list? I wonder how you view human well-being, leisure activities, hobbies, and activities that may have secondary benefits (e.g. Formula 1’s impact on the automotive industry).

thaumasiotes 7y ago

> No one really needs to be near other people. This isn't true now or at any point when "humans" were an identifiable concept. We're not solitary animals. If you made everyone live alone, we might well go extinct. People do vary in how much contact they need with other people. Some people will quickly become mentally ill if they're not getting enough social contact. I'm quite far over at the other end of the spectrum... but after living in China with no social group for several months, a friendly cashier greeting me in English with "Welcome to Lotus" was enough to get a very positive reaction from me.

wanda 7y ago

If that's going to be the prevailing attitude once this pandemic is brought under control, it would seem I picked a doubly bad time to quit programming and become a restaurateur.

sys_64738 7y ago

Won't the population die out then?

joppy 7y ago

Some would argue that having fun and feeling fulfilled are essential to life, and for some that would put those three things firmly on the list. And interacting with other people is (in my opinion) basically the point of being alive, and it’s much easier to do if you’re near them. Really if we only needed things that were essential to life, each of us could be living in a broom cupboard doing nothing and drinking Soylent for sustenance, but what kind of life would that be?