If someone were to offer me a billion dollars right now to give up some of those positive life experiences, I would tell him to take his money straight to hell. That is not hyperbole. Some things are priceless.
I know, also, that sometimes people do things differently from what they say that they would do when there is actual concrete offer on the table rather than exploring a hypothetical that may well never be presented..
There is an old saying: “May I not be put to the test.”
I despise the stereotype of thoughtless people who declare, “I would rather X than Y,” without any deep, experiential, introspective knowledge of how they react in various situations. Those whose shallow lives have had comforts that they inevitably take for granted. It is commonplace.
You seem to be describing the is versus ought dilemma in the sense that people need to get to their own place on their own and we try to appreciate people for how they are rather than how we might think that they should be.
If you better knew me... Sigh.
Is it necessary?
I am usually in the position of correcting people when they make such declarations, and it is clear to me that they would most likely betray all they ever loved to claim a bribe of a million dollars, or even much less—never mind a billion!
There is likely some truth to the everyone has a price, and I doubt that it is a bad thing... but surely there are some things that some people will refuse to do, even if they are tortured to death, but even some of those people will sometimes "give in" to the demands. I feel like I am getting astray here.
I choose my words carefully, and I do not speak lightly.
Fair enough.. but still does not mean that you say all the right things or that you do not have regrets or that you cannot learn along the way.. even if you might have chosen the words were "best" at the particular moment that you were communicating them.
On the flipside, I have faced the moment of truth. I have had the real-life experience of defiantly declaring, “I would rather die in the gutter than do X,” and soon thereafter struggling to survive, very nearly dying in the gutter, and incurring irreparable permanent damage to my health, instead of surrendering and succumbing to X. I know whereof I speak. I will never do X.
Sometimes we make the right decision.. frequently we are not pushed to the limits to have to really test our resolve, and many times it is not relevant regarding how extreme that we might go.. at the same time, there is likely some ways to structure your actions, behaviors and your life in such a way that you avoid certain dilemmas or even having to make extreme choices, and that may well not be a bad thing. There is likely some value in not living on the extreme but attempting to go down a path that is sufficiently challenging and individualized but not engaged in daily ongoing drama.
But it is not the way of the modern world. I am an atavism.
There are a lot of people in the world and they make various choices, and some people have more options than others.. and surely, there is a difference with starting points and starting out resources, too.
Both you and I likely realize that none of these relationship matters are completely absolute - because it is the case that the longer that we are around can contribute towards us being more or less comfortable with other members - maybe certain members more than others.
True.
My own perceptions are much affected by some seemingly impossible extremes. I have had the experience of reposing absolute, unreserved,
unconditional trust in a faceless, voiceless, totally anonymous party whom I could never meet. A disembodied soul, insofar as I was concerned. Whoever it was, I trusted that person far more than I trusted the woman whom I once almost married IRL. The experience left an indelible mark on me. I wouldn’t trade it for any amount of money—not $billions, not $trillions, not 21m BTC, not a trainload of gold.
I find a lot of value to meet people in person.. though you are correct that the dynamics are different.. so it is not always easy to figure out a balance.
Actually, there are a lot of levels in terms of getting to know people, and maybe even what the expectations of a relationship might be whether business, personal or some combination... and people will treat these matters in different ways in terms of screening and/or setting expectations.. and that can happen on both the business level and on the personal level .. even though it might feel a bit strange when they overlap in various ways.. which is almost inevitable if dealing with people and a variety of relationships.
Throughout my life, I have always aspired to the impossible. Rarely have I ever even come close to my goals.
That is not a good thing. It seems more practical to have both achievable goals and aspirational goals.. and sure they can change along the way too.. but let's say that when you are 14 years old you start to look into various possible career paths and you end up changing at 18, 22 and 26, but all along you are making progress and perhaps having some set backs too, and as you go some goals are met, and some choices will affect whether there is an ability to change paths later down the road.
It was not my only rare experience in cypherspace, although it was by far the most unusual. How can such experiences not affect my general outlook and expectations?
Sure.. we are affected by our experiences, and sometimes we learn from them too, and I am not denying that relationships and/or experiences can be cyperspace only or have physical meeting involved or both.
No offense, Jay, but if anyone were hypothetically to offer me $100k or even $10k to cease all discussion with you, I would probably take the money. Why should I not? I know that you don’t really care about anyone on the Internet. We are just chit-chatting and passing by—right?
Nothing wrong with that hypothetical, but if I want to negotiate down a bit more, then would you be willing to take $50 to stop?
Good discussion. Too bad this is not much a philosophical venue.
No problema.. as long as you are not pumping shitcoins or shilling some other bullshit.
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