We tend to believe that all the theories are true and applicable in real life. But that’s not true.
A user asked the forum, “What sounds good in theory but is terrible in practice?” Here are the top responses.
ALGORITHMS
“In theory, recommendation algorithms that recommend content similar to others you like sounds like a good idea. In theory, you can easily find more shows that you want.
In practice, the lack of diverse content shunts you into narrow categories of interest, so you get bored more efficiently, and it becomes more difficult to find things you like. It’s like eating your favorite food every day for dinner. It’ll quickly stop being your favorite food.”
FLYING CARS OR BIKES
“Flying cars/bikes, really dangerous.”
BE YOURSELF
“The advice ‘Just be yourself.’ Yourself isn’t bad. I would like you! But also, we could try to grow and be better and maybe prune some stuff that isn’t helping us anymore. Sometimes, we might be defensive about ourselves and stifle our development.
It does have a better ring to it, though, than ‘Remember that you’re a valid human with inherent worth, but some of the things you do or think might not be the best, and we can learn new strategies while reminding ourselves that our self-worth and identity isn’t formed from not making mistakes or having to make changes, but rather is universal and unassailable.'”
MAKESHIFT PARACHUTE
“Weaving 20 trash bags into a makeshift parachute. It doesn’t work. Ask me how I know.”
BUYING TEA BASED ON SCENT
“Buying tea based on scent. It seems like it should work, but it doesn’t. Earl Grey is my favorite tea, but I think it smells terrible.”
TRUST YOUR GUT
“Trust your gut/instincts. Sometimes, our ‘gut’ is a trauma response. Sometimes, our ‘instincts’ are prejudices ingrained in us by society or upbringing. Some of us have anxiety issues and would never do a thing if we listened to the instinct to run from everything.
It’s not always trustworthy; sometimes, it’s better to do something even if every inch of you thinks it’s a bad idea.”
ACTIVE LEARNING
“Active learning. Lectures are supposed to help students because the teachers summarize their experience and knowledge of that subject and feed it to them. Take that away and give it a positive, meaningless name, and then you get active learning, where students feel crushed under the pressure of learning everything from scratch without guidance. Especially when the course is short and there is too much material to cover, there isn’t time for students.”
DON’T CARE WHAT OTHERS THINK
“Don’t care what others think. There’s a fine line between not being a people pleaser and just being a jerk. You shouldn’t change who you are for others, but you shouldn’t take that as an excuse just to act/say whatever you want.”
LIBERTARIANISM
“Libertarianism. Letting people do what they want sounds pretty great in theory. In practice, you end up with garbage everywhere, bear problems, and violence (see Grafton, New Hampshire). Any system that relies on humans being rational actors is bound to fail.”
COMPLETE TRANSPARENCY
“Complete transparency in relationships. Being open and honest with your partner is important, but sharing every aspect of yourself does more harm than good.”
EUGENICS
“Eugenics. In theory, it provides the future/best way forward for humanity. In practice, results in genocide and holocaust (as commonsense would suggest would happen).”
BREAKFAST IN BED
“Breakfast in bed. People think it’s so lovely and relaxing, but in reality, you get crumbs all over the sheets and risk splashing coffee or milk on them, and it’s also kind of awkward to eat propped up against pillows.”
SUPPLY-SIDE ECONOMICS
“Supply-side economics. We’ve been trying it for over 40 years. The next improvement we see in the standard of living for working people will be the first one.”
JUMPING OFF THE ROOF
“Jumping off the roof with an umbrella. You will not float down like Mary Poppins.”
RELIGION
“Religion. Some people think they have the best answers to life’s big questions and are proud to be a result of brainwashing. The problem with a false orientation is that you don’t make the same choices as you would free from that influence.
Some think setting gay people on fire is righteous because that’s what their outdated, false authority tells them.”
COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM
“Communism and socialism. It works perfectly on paper, and then you add people. Everything goes to trash.”
EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL
“Everyone is beautiful. Eventually, your kid grows up and looks in the mirror. They aren’t beautiful, and now they feel like failures. They spend the rest of their lives trying to become attractive because you told them that’s what they’re supposed to be. Tell your kids it’s okay to be ugly.”
ALL REGULATIONS
“About 50% of all regulations. At least they sound good if you don’t know economics.
Especially anything that goes, ‘X is too expensive; we should pass a law to force greedy companies to sell X more cheaply so people can afford it.’
Or ‘gruel is horrible, it’s so sad people have to eat it to survive; let’s ban gruel.'”
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“Artificial Intelligence. Just wait and see.”
USING WASHING MACHINE AS A HAMPER
“Using your washing machine as your hamper. Inherently, it skips a step in doing laundry, but it stays too moist/humid and can mold your clothes.”
CAPITALISM
“Capitalism. Anyone can buy or sell anything they want at whatever price everyone agrees to. Competition makes businesses stronger, and customers benefit from lower prices.
In reality, the biggest corporations buy out competitors and keep their brands to give an illusion of competition, all so companies can maximize profits by constantly charging the most they can get away with and selling the cheapest ‘designed obsolescence’ product they can make.”
BANNING GUNS
“Banning guns. You just end up in a situation where only criminals have guns, and law-abiding people are easy prey for them. Even if you somehow manage to get rid of all guns, criminals will simply resort to knives, bats, and beating people up in mobs, with law-abiding people again unable to fight against it because they don’t have guns effectively.”
GIVING YOUR 100%
“Giving your 100%. I tried to give my 100% once. After a week, I was hospitalized for 20 days.”
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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.