The ultimate tragedy of someone living a stagnant life is not that bad things happen to them, but that nothing happens to them, leaving them stranded on the sidelines watching a select few actually play the game while they refuse to participate simply because the stakes are high.
Every astounding victory shadows a thousand brutal losses, so they stay in their shell, watching as other people do what they wish they could, all because they are scared that something might hurt them, permanently condemning themselves to a life of numb, empty voyeurism.
Most people quit because they forget that you have to be bad at something before you can be good at it. It's so obvious. You suck. Of course you're not going to win in 2 weeks. But if you can learn to enjoy extended periods of failure, you will make it very, very far in life.
If you want a rare life, you have to be delusional. Doubt can enter your mind, and it can sound reasonable, but if you entertain it too much it will slowly drag you down into stagnation. I'd rather reap the lesson from massive failure than do nothing because it's not "realistic."
“Expecting an algorithmic description to instantiate the quality it maps is like expecting the mathematical formula of gravity to physically exert weight.”
The problem is that you don't know what you want to do, and figuring out what you want to do requires learning, experimentation, and effort - so you do nothing.
The essence of modern china is so fascinating. Behold, a technological sisyphus - not only will his arms flap until his body gives out and the pot drops, but his entire being, his livelihood, his life is trapped in an endless cycle of arm flapping. For regardless of how long he lasts, the pot always falls, breaking and joining the visual pile of shards below.
Behind him, surrounding him and providing sole reason for his existence - tens of thousands of sadists entertaining themselves at his expense while providing him with enough pennies to keep on going.
But he must flap his hands, he must drop the pots. There will never be enough. He will never be able to stop. For if he does, the single financial lifeline this rural chinaman has will be cut short. His task is endless. The need is insatiable. He is both the boulder and the man pushing it.
You see this actively happening in Brazil and others parts of South America where
1) part of the voter populace is less educated
2) politicans figured out if they promise to continue or expand free money to those people, they will
3) all vote for them to get into power, resulting in
4) the country slowly going bankrupt and its currency continually getting devalued, and long term
5) the country as a whole becoming poorer compared to the rest of the world
So yes people receiving free money should not be able to vote
It bankrupts countries once politicans discover this cheat code to get elected, it's literally a cheat code!