You are certainly free to continue to do heroin as far as I am concerned. You are not free to rob my house because you destroyed your life, but if you can keep your shit together, do whatever you want.

In what way is it analogous, other than they're both activities that people do because they enjoy them?

Heroin destroys lives, dragging not just the users, but those around them down. Similar to TBI.

If doing heroin was a spectator sport where competitors were highly paid and needed to be in peak physical condition and perform impressive feats in order to be the best at doing heroin, then this analogy might be slightly more relevant...

And in that case, if an "extreme heroin" player published a mathematics paper, I still would be impressed.

> then this analogy might be slightly more relevant

Agreed, football is worse: we actively encourage and reward modern day gladiatorial combat such that otherwise brilliant people feel the need to participate. NFL players publishing papers and having successful academic careers afterwards are not the norm.

You are being incredibly hyperbolic. There are issues with football, but equating the sport to actual bloodsport (or heroin use... really?) is a ridiculous stretch.

It really doesn't do anything to further the discourse.

^ Agree.

I think that pivoting the framing from a known known (look at these guys who have brain damage and are killing themselves) to a known unknown (have we really accounted for all the variance?) is risky, because you're then flirting with confirmation bias.

I think that if one guy wants to fly through a canyon in a wingsuit, it's one matter. But when you have an entire nation cheering this behavior on, it starts to make us introspect and say... wait.. exactly how hedonistic are we? Is this really the kind of behavior we want to teach our children? The reductio is that it could lead to us selecting against ourselves, as a species. Go Team!

That's a really terrible analogy. Would you say the same thing about a desire to play chess or a desire to compete in the olympics? Would you say the same thing about a desire to write software? Heroin is pretty self-destructive, and you won't be admired for it or have a successful career at it. Football is different. It's a passion. It requires skill.

Yes, he said "I like thing I enjoy" because it "makes me feel good"...

Everything humans like to do fits into that template.

Do you have an objection to all physical contact between consenting adults, or only to certain kinds?

His argument that he keeps playing because he likes hitting people, is analogous to saying that I keep riding my bike downhill because I like the high.

Ok. And?

Oh. I get it. We're supposed to be judgemental and look down on him for doing what he likes. Like we do with people who do drugs. Because this is hacker news, and anyone who does anything physical or competitive is not like us, right?

Enjoy your heroin!