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The chess stuff resonated with me. I was a top 10 U18 player back in the day in the US, but I never set much stock by that and quit chess when I went off to col
by wly_cdgr 5y ago
The chess stuff resonated with me. I was a top 10 U18 player back in the day in the US, but I never set much stock by that and quit chess when I went off to college, because I couldn't find a way to feel content with devoting my life to something so narrow, and because it felt very likely that I was only that high up the chess ladder because a very large number of smarter people weren't bothering with the game
Pretty good article!
- wly_cdgr 5y agoThinking about it more, there's something similar to leaving the Matrix I think about leaving a subculture you were deeply involved in. It becomes hard(er) to willingly submerge yourself in another one once you spend some time at the "surface" level. You have to keep working to sustain your suspension of disbelief or risk snapping out into a crushing awareness of the subculture's arbitrariness and insignificance. But the "main" culture (if it's even not just another subculture, anyway) is so goddamn ugly and bland