The Greatest Goal

by **DoomYoshi** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:22 pm

Can usually be described as being better than your parents. Either economically, or whatever index you want to use. The thing that annoys me about my parents (as a generation, not them specifically) is their insistence on the superiority of Classic Rock over other kinds of music. Not that I dislike Classic Rock, it's just not the cat's pajamas.

Recently scientists have discovered why people fondly remember the music of their adolescence (described as 15-25 years of age). It's because that's when the prefrontal cortex is developing.

So, the solution is simple. Anyone who thinks Led Zeppelin are living Gods, or any other such belief, will get a lobotomy.

Then, with the baby boomers reduced to a physical embodiement of what they actually are - drooling incompetents, I will surely be better off than them.

by **Gilligan** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:25 pm

So in years to come, people will be using Justin Beiber like people use the oldies now?

Shit.

by **DoomYoshi** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:27 pm

Gilligan wrote:So in years to come, people will be using Justin Beiber like people use the oldies now?

Shit.

Not if we figure out how to do something about this. What we look for is a chemical that keeps the prefrontal cortex from settling down and keeps dopamine levels high, so that we enter a never ending period of adolescence.

by **jonesthecurl** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:30 pm

DoomYoshi wrote:Can usually be described as being better than your parents. Either economically, or whatever index you want to use. The thing that annoys me about my parents (as a generation, not them specifically) is their insistence on the superiority of Classic Rock over other kinds of music. Not that I dislike Classic Rock, it's just not the cat's pajamas.

Recently scientists have discovered why people fondly remember the music of their adolescence (described as 15-25 years of age). It's because that's when the prefrontal cortex is developing.

So, the solution is simple. Anyone who thinks Led Zeppelin are living Gods, or any other such belief, will get a lobotomy.

Then, with the baby boomers reduced to a physical embodiement of what they actually are - drooling incompetents, I will surely be better off than them.

So the only way you can compete with people is to lobotomise them?

by **DoomYoshi** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:34 pm

pretty much, yea.

EDIT: Actually, it's more of a way of competing with the overall Worship of Stupidity that is present in American culture. One aspect of which is "voting" for "great artistic achievement", as if popular opinion constitutes an objective standard.

by **KoolBak** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:38 pm

Are your worthless parents helping pay for your schooling, new-music-boy? :lol:

by **DoomYoshi** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:53 pm

KoolBak wrote:Are your worthless parents helping pay for your schooling, new-music-boy?

If by parents you mean: "The Big Brother State of Soviet Canuckistan" then yes.

by **BigBallinStalin** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:18 pm

Are the cat's pajamas in Schroedinger's box?

by **Dukasaur** on Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:32 pm

I'm glad there's scientific confirmation, but quite frankly I didn't need it. It's been obvious to me for decades that people form their basic cultural opinions in high school, and while they may from time to time add things to their favourites list, there is no more large, wholesale expansions of the list.

Whatever you listened to/watched/read/ate/drank/fucked/wrote/injected/wore etc., in high school or in university is what you will always think of as "the good stuff". Everything before that is "ancient" and everything after that is "the new shit" and even if once in a while you open your heart and let some of "the new shit" in, it will be the exception rather than the rule.

Before you address this as a problem to be "solved", let me postulate that this is not a bug but system WAD (Working As Designed.)

First, economics. When the Rolling Stones come around ticket prices start at $300 and can get bid up into four digits. If the Black Crows or (whatever the latest new shit is) were selling at that price, most people of your generation couldn't afford to go. The fact that we don't like your shit music makes it affordable for you.

Second, genetics. These preferences sort people by age, which means that people in different stages of pre/post reproduction aren't mixing. If the clubs were evenly blended across age groups, the odds of mismatched pairs who don't agree on reproductive questions would skyrocket. Most men my age would love to go into a club and get their hands on some fresh young tail, but the prospect of listening to the Black Crows for two hours is a mighty strong deterrent.

Third, mental health. As one gets older and death comes closer, one's waning interest in the world outside makes it possible to face it with stoicism. If old people loved life the way they loved it when they were 19, I think they would go positively psychotic at the prospect of giving it up. We can approach death with a modicum of composure at least partly because, in our opinion, the world has gone to the dogs and it's no great loss.