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I used to be an "Adventure Traveler" when I was younger, trapsing through forests and jungles - basically doing nothing of value. I had a lot of reasons I could

I used to be an "Adventure Traveler" when I was younger, trapsing through forests and jungles - basically doing nothing of value. I had a lot of reasons I could come up with for doing all this stuff, but at the end of the day it was just a personal desire to experience these places and be able to tell the story. I wish more people would just cop to that, wanting to "Be an Explorer" to tell stories and experience the edge. The majority of people doing this stuff now aren't doing it for what the author quotes as: "[finding] new geographical information that adds to humanity’s stock of collective knowledge" That's what botanists and archeologists and GIS experts do with LIDAR and robots and the like. At a certain point once you realize that you, the human are the limiting factor when it comes to improving knowledge about the world, you start creating tools to learn, probes and planes and radars and things. I think "nature" people just need to be real with it, that they are trying to live out a naturalistic fantasy or just enjoy the solitude and stop pretending there is something more philosophical about it.

floren 7y ago
It's philosophical for a lot of us... it's just rarely scientific.
- AndrewKemendo 7y ago
  What branch of philosophy? My guess is that in actuality it's just emotional/chemical for you.
  - floren 7y ago
    Whatever branch teaches me not to be a joyless pedant, I guess. You should give it a try. Edit: to be less flip, I find it an excellent place to think about ethics, what things are worth doing, the future, etc. I feel more prone to be "philosophical" when I'm in a wild place. I do not put on a backpack and think, "Ah, today I'm really going to sink my teeth into some epistemology".
    - AndrewKemendo 7y ago
      Of course, and you've made exactly my point. Everyone wants to make the process of being outside away from people and engineered objects out to be something more serious than it is. It's not. Just say you enjoy how you feel in that state and it makes you feel possibly more creative and open (though I assume most people haven't measured whether they actually are more creative or thoughtful over other places while alone and occupied eg. Shower, running, yoga etc..).
      - tjr225 7y ago
        What exactly.... are you trying to say here? Jeeze.

floren 7y ago

It's philosophical for a lot of us... it's just rarely scientific.

AndrewKemendo 7y ago
What branch of philosophy? My guess is that in actuality it's just emotional/chemical for you.
- floren 7y ago
  Whatever branch teaches me not to be a joyless pedant, I guess. You should give it a try. Edit: to be less flip, I find it an excellent place to think about ethics, what things are worth doing, the future, etc. I feel more prone to be "philosophical" when I'm in a wild place. I do not put on a backpack and think, "Ah, today I'm really going to sink my teeth into some epistemology".
  - AndrewKemendo 7y ago
    Of course, and you've made exactly my point. Everyone wants to make the process of being outside away from people and engineered objects out to be something more serious than it is. It's not. Just say you enjoy how you feel in that state and it makes you feel possibly more creative and open (though I assume most people haven't measured whether they actually are more creative or thoughtful over other places while alone and occupied eg. Shower, running, yoga etc..).
    - tjr225 7y ago
      What exactly.... are you trying to say here? Jeeze.