related:

http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/19...commensurable/

Everything can be consider a waste of time than, it's eye of the beholder.
Whatever makes you the happiest and what you have passion for, go grab it.
Everyone is unique and that's what makes us special. If making a million dollar from poker is a stepping stone to happiness than do it, I don't judge. Just make sure you don't love money more than happiness. The love of money is the root of all evil.

I was half joking with my post but in terms of making a contribution to the world as OP said, games are pretty low on the totem pole.

Some guy in Ohio just killed 13 people bc of gambling debts.

It boils down to your own values. These three things are constantly offered as self-evident truths, although they are really not.

1) We have any obligation to 'humanity'. Pathological altruism horse****. Go move to Sweden and blow 3rd World refugees if that's your bag but it doesn't make you a 'better person' and it certainlly doesn't make for a 'better world'.

2) That wandering around on a beach or in the woods is the apotheosis of life. Horse**** again, for many people. It might be the best thing in the world for you but others are much more happy in a dank casino or a Berlin brothel, railing out sad Romanian whores .

3) That poker is a 'waste of time', thus implying that there's a value differential when it comes to our time on this earth as if our lives have some sort of inherent 'meaning'. We don't. Here shortly, everyone reading this post will be dead. Your parents and everyone who knew you will be dead. There will be a new crop of delusional *******s who too will soon be dead, but live as though they had any 'meaning' beyond eventually becoming fossils beneath a headstone or a jug full of ashes.

Your time on this earth is best spent doing whatever the **** you want at the moment, because that moment is all you really have. If you're compelled to play poker, go do it. If you're compelled to hop in a Panzer and go storm Poland, fine. We're talking monkeys on a rotating dirt-ball orbiting a star that will eventually start burning helium and consume us and at that point, it will be as if we never existed at all... no more Mona Lisa or Mozart or Mount Everest. We become forgotten to all of time and space... and it doesn't matter.

This is where we live.

You "wasting time" ******s do not grasp the scale of your own existence. Here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

This is where we different, i do think there is a meaning to life, and there is a higher power watching us. If you have faith and believe this than you should know the meaning of life is to be happy. Like i said I do not think playing a game continuously for 10+ years is going to make you happy. Humans in my opinion like to try different and new things. I did not say stop playing poker if it is your best option of happiness. What i said is if you have financial freedom and still grind 40+ hours of poker, you are missing out on life. Poker should be a stepping stone to eventually do positive things in life. You need to have a more positive outlook on life and in humans. Obviously you want to help yourself first, but once you have enough give back to society and share your knowledge, wealth so the world can be a better place. Don't get me wrong, if poker is about survival and you must play, go ahead and play 40+ hours to get a head but if you are already set, there are so many things in life that are worth exploring than grinding. Also even though i retired from pro poker i still casually play because poker is still a bit of fun. I never said to stop playing poker cause its evil. The love of money is evil.

... and that is where you get off the reality-train and hop on board the bull**** express.

Toot Toot!

When you're no longer constrained by reality, you can just believe whatever you want so go ahead. Believe life has 'meaning'. You've already demonstrated that you're willing to believe in things that are not true so may as well go all-in on whatever is most comforting.

Money is a tool, use it with purpose.

somehow i am not convinced by your post that you archieved happiness

Everyone is in control of their own time, do whatever you enjoy most, in the end do what you can to help those around you but the main focus needs to be on yourself to feel fulfilled imo

Sounds like either you're very indecisive, or you want to be able to judge others while pretending not to judge others.

I play online poker there isn't really any socializing or camaraderie. You can talk in a chat box but it isn't the same as live poker. I don't see the problem with taking someones money in poker but if you the op don't think that is ok then poker isn't a game you should play.

I understand what happiness is. It's like the weather. Some days its sunny, some days its rainy.

People who think that happiness is an achievement you unlock by performing a series of tasks are usually socially ******ed manchildren who haven't made their first trip around the block.

None of this changes the fact that we're randomly evolved agglomerations of molecules with no more or less value than a rock on the moon.

if happiness would be like the weather that would mean you would have no influence at all. That seems disaccording to my observations.

Although their might be variance, being happy doesnt seem to be completly random, there are people that clearly seem to be happy more than others, and also being rich doesnt guarantee you happiness.

Although there are more % of wealthy people that are happy than poor, at least in big cities.

Maybe you are just born as a happy person or your childhood has its influence, but somehow i got the impression there are indeed tasks you can preform to find out what makes you happy.

And maybe there is something like a mission in life, it might not be like a linear side-scrolling shooter or something, but i could imagine that our biology is telling us to become a certain persona. So maybe some persons feel they have to become a father or something and they begin to feel unhappy if they dont follow this voice.

Maybe.

As a professional poker player, you could really have a huge impact on the world simply by donating some percentage of your winnings to the most effective charities. From this perspective, it's possible that a pro poker player could actually improve the world more than a doctor, for example. There are so many people still dying of easily curable or preventable maladies that there is actually a ton of low-hanging fruit for someone who actually wants to make the world a better place.

You get my point though, right? There is nothing inherently altruistic about professional sports. You could just have easily raised the same question on any professional sports forum. They arn't changing the world or helping others. But they are massively rewarded for just hitting/throwing/kicking a ball, running fast or something like that. And it's not just professions that involve games, this is just an example. There are many well respected jobs that don't help people, or in which you don't leave a mark and any of your efforts will be forgotten. So I agree with Loctus, you're not really asking a question that is specific to poker.

Also, you could look at it in a positive way: you contribute to the entertainment available in society. Poker players need other poker players for it to exist. You need opponents to enjoy the fun of playing chess etc. Perhaps you might learn something about life/people through playing?

If you or anyone have any ideas that are radically going to improve things for humankind, then of course, yeah, you should do that That's probably quite hard to do though
Maybe you could look into 'Raising for Effective Giving', or donating money to charity when you bink a big tournament. Or choose whichever job you find most satisfying and play poker in your spare time using some percentage of your salary.

Not even close to true.

Just guessing but seems like your at that college freshman point in your life where you start to ponder stuff. Don't take everything to seriously, and just enjoy yourself.

Well, OP, not sure what you were expecting coming to a poker forum to ask, essentially, if spending considerable time playing and becoming better at poker is, if not a waste of time, a lesser pursuit. What does it matter what we think?

Seems you have your answer.

Could be.

There's also this phrase "30 is the new 40". You get a lot of 30 year-olds starting to worry if they have set off on the right track in life, if they should/shouldn't be in a long term relationship. I get a ton of applications to teach English in eastern Europe from that age group.

so my parents ****ed, an egg was fertilized, I was born, and now it's my responsibility to help others in my spare time? maybe some of it pal, but your OP is dumb. If that's what you feel you should do, go ahead. If others feel the same, I'm sure they will do it as well. Don't bring me down bro!

Does curing easily preventable maladies among people who themselves are incapable of summoning enough agency to prevent them on their own, is that really making the world a 'better place'?

Here's what happens when you remove Darwin from the 3rd World picture in the name of altruism and cultural benevolence.



The world is about to become a horrifying place in the next 100 years because at some point we decided to use our magical sciences to save everyone, which will ironically create conditions that may lead to our own demise.

What if we let people die based on a worldview some people disagree with. 🤔 hope you don't get sick.

Issues of free will aside, it is not true that the prevalence of all these maladies is due to a lack of agency. Take deaths due to Malaria for example. Many people simply don't have access to Malaria nets or lack the knowledge to use them. If a better world is one with less suffering, there is a lot we can do.

I don't see much evidence for this. The world has not become a more horrifying place in the last 100 years despite using our "magical sciences to save everyone." In fact, it's a lot better place for most people. Population growth rates tend to slow as countries get richer. Surely it will slow in sub-saharan Africa as well, like it has in China. People have been worrying about the world becoming overpopulated since Thomas Malthus, but much of the concerns have been overblown.

Lol anyone who wants a totally uniform political discourse is a fascist

Humans just have fill time some do it by getting high and judged by others

Some go work every day have like 3 hours free time a day and only get free time when old

And not sure which is the more rewarding

My dad worked every dad of his life had I wife that nagged him every day then died 43

Some people spend life chasing money

Some party till they look like death in there 30s

And every one judges and gossips about friends and family

Some go round getting laid and care free

Some just float to heaven when the rapture comes.