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Waste is waste, that's not a judgement about the person wasting something, it's a description of what's happening. If you throw away food, you're wasting it. Y

Waste is waste, that's not a judgement about the person wasting something, it's a description of what's happening. If you throw away food, you're wasting it. You might be allergic to it, but that doesn't change the "thrown-away food is food-waste" bit, it just explains why you don't want that food around.

Karrot_Kream 4y ago
Then can you come up with a rigorous definition of "waste" here that others would agree with? Definitions usually require consensus.
- afarrell 4y ago
  Resources spent which, after their consumption, do not result in an experience which a human would look back upon with fondness or gratitude.
- cpsns 4y ago
  Probably not, because video game addicts will not admit they have an issue, much less one that wastes valuable time.
willis936 4y ago
I'm wasting my life working on world changing problems when I could be spending it playing WoW.
- luckylion 4y ago
  Doesn't it get incredible repetitive and boring with time? You get a new extension/DLC and you have a few new things to discover and monsters to slay or whatever, and then it's back to farming gold? At that point, you're probably 'playing' it because of the social interaction with other people, aren't you?
  - willis936 4y ago
    I'm playing devil's advocate. I haven't actually played much WoW, but I have spent a long time thinking about escapism with a critical eye. It's one of my biggest regrets. I encourage people to waste their time. I was the happiest when I had free time to putz around with games and hobbies. I made stuff for the joy of it. I wouldn't wish a successful career on my worst enemy. I don't see any utility in distinguishing between flavors of escapism. Why would productivity make a judge say one waste of time is better than another? Because that judge doesn't see the value in wasting time and the ones with creativity seem more like work and less like fun.
    - luckylion 4y ago
      I don't think that everything "non-productive" is "wasting time", but wasting time is by definition not productive. It's the difference between sleeping so you can be awake and putting yourself into a dreamless coma because you can't think of anything better to do. Watching TV (and not having it play in the background while you're doing something else) is the equivalent of a coma.
lmm 4y ago
Deciding whether something is waste is a value judgement about what you spent it on. If you make a beautiful food sculpture that you enjoy looking at, but doing so renders the food inedible, is that food waste or not? If you feed it to someone who's already eaten more than a healthy day's food intake, is that food waste or not? You can only say whether time is wasted if you have a measure of what's a valuable use of time, and the idea that "productive" activities are more valuable than social farting around is not uncontroversial.
morepork 4y ago
What is your definition of a wasted life? It's bound to be different from the next person. Food is made to be eaten, that is its purpose. So it's clear what wasted food is. What is the purpose of a human life? There is no universal answer, hence no universal way to define what is a wasted life.

Karrot_Kream 4y ago

Then can you come up with a rigorous definition of "waste" here that others would agree with? Definitions usually require consensus.

afarrell 4y ago
Resources spent which, after their consumption, do not result in an experience which a human would look back upon with fondness or gratitude.
cpsns 4y ago
Probably not, because video game addicts will not admit they have an issue, much less one that wastes valuable time.

willis936 4y ago

I'm wasting my life working on world changing problems when I could be spending it playing WoW.

luckylion 4y ago
Doesn't it get incredible repetitive and boring with time? You get a new extension/DLC and you have a few new things to discover and monsters to slay or whatever, and then it's back to farming gold? At that point, you're probably 'playing' it because of the social interaction with other people, aren't you?
- willis936 4y ago
  I'm playing devil's advocate. I haven't actually played much WoW, but I have spent a long time thinking about escapism with a critical eye. It's one of my biggest regrets. I encourage people to waste their time. I was the happiest when I had free time to putz around with games and hobbies. I made stuff for the joy of it. I wouldn't wish a successful career on my worst enemy. I don't see any utility in distinguishing between flavors of escapism. Why would productivity make a judge say one waste of time is better than another? Because that judge doesn't see the value in wasting time and the ones with creativity seem more like work and less like fun.
  - luckylion 4y ago
    I don't think that everything "non-productive" is "wasting time", but wasting time is by definition not productive. It's the difference between sleeping so you can be awake and putting yourself into a dreamless coma because you can't think of anything better to do. Watching TV (and not having it play in the background while you're doing something else) is the equivalent of a coma.

lmm 4y ago

Deciding whether something is waste is a value judgement about what you spent it on. If you make a beautiful food sculpture that you enjoy looking at, but doing so renders the food inedible, is that food waste or not? If you feed it to someone who's already eaten more than a healthy day's food intake, is that food waste or not? You can only say whether time is wasted if you have a measure of what's a valuable use of time, and the idea that "productive" activities are more valuable than social farting around is not uncontroversial.

morepork 4y ago

What is your definition of a wasted life? It's bound to be different from the next person. Food is made to be eaten, that is its purpose. So it's clear what wasted food is. What is the purpose of a human life? There is no universal answer, hence no universal way to define what is a wasted life.