Whenever I talk to my girlfriend about my obsessions it doesn't go as well as that; I always seem to end up digging myself a hole.
(..er, sorry. Love the story; thanks for sharing! I find I agree with your overall taxonomy but would maybe quibble with the location of some individual items within it)
There is a human need to PRODUCE. This is different from the need to create - creation implies something new, or even useful. But production can just be production for the sake of it.
Sometimes I work on a big square that I'm knitting. The square isn't going to be anything or do anything but it's satisfying to see stitches added. It's nice to see the tunnel grow bigger!
I think you are putting your finger right on it: tunneling is a clear process that is easy to make observable progress in and feel like you are improving things. A huge number of human activities provide basically the same thing, that continuous feeling of accomplishment and getting things done, even if they are kind of pointless over all. That's probably 90% of hobbies.
tunnel man is like a nice version of the wailing wall in paul auster's "the music of chance"—which also, weirdly, had a little bit of a catnippy quality. maybe there's something inherently interesting about making a big effort for something with an unknown payoff (see: stonehenge, michael heizer)?
The thing about tunneling that differs from most of the other "anti-pornographies" on your list is that it's a *project* with clear indications of progress and physical persistence of that progress over time. I'm not a tunneler myself, but this sort of thing seems far more gratifying to me than meditation, yoga, or sitting on the beach.
The closest similar thing in my own life that I can think of is building big LEGO kits at a leisurely pace. I do it when I want to and because I want to, not because I have to. It's engrossing but not taxing. And you have a persistent physical artifact when finished.
As for evolution, I suspect that natural selection favors "industriousness" -- i.e., a general affinity for work. So I would not assume that an activity such as tunneling is counter-evolutionary.
Great point. I guess yoga can *sort* of be a project, if you think about developing your skill. But the feedback loop isn't nearly as visceral as building a physical thing. If you add that "is a product" dimension, then it's hard for me to think many similar things that aren't also building physical objects. Maybe... writing a novel that no one could ever read?
Lots of kids like to dig holes and try to "tunnel to the center of the Earth" or whatever. There's something fascinating about what's under there, and making a space away from everything else. Not unlike a clubhouse or treehouse, but kind of more organic because it's down in the earth itself. But an awful lot of work!
Great point. Which reminds me that when I was a kid, my friends and I dug an "underground fort" -- basically just a curved tunnel that we could go down into and hang out, light small roots on fire, read Playboys we had found in people's trash, and so on.
Between the tunneling and the Playboys, I guess we connected the opposite corners of dynomight's chart. I have no idea what conclusion to draw from that.
Like the sentiment but can't agree with the conclusion.
On the one hand, yes, someone being obsessed with something for its own sake sounds healthy. On the other... there is a very real human phenomenon of "screws coming loose" where someone does something compulsively forever and will jump through whatever necessary hoops (explaining things to other people, promising changes, etc) in order to not change. We're right to be a little scared by it: when someone no longer follows "human programming" there's no way to use our human programming to predict what they're going to next. They've gone "off-script" and now there's the potential for true chaos (see e.g. every horror movie ever; they're basically about coping with this fear in one form or another).
The problem is distinguishing "a healthy love of a weird creation" with "a screw is truly loose and you have no idea what happens next". Like, kids love to dig hole and imagine cool underground forts, fine. But crazy people also love to dig holes and then murder people in them (I mean... maybe). How do you know the difference? Well this person is also socially isolated from everybody else and evidently tunneling "compulsively" and not interested in... more normative ways of spending their obsessive time. Gut check says there's a 50/50 at best that this ends up healthy vs super fucked up. Not sure which way it goes yet, of course, but the more erratic it gets, the less cozy and more horror-movie-in-the-making it feels.
I think having a positive view on tunnel man requires assuming he delivered on his promise to moderate things.
I mean... I'd argue that some people find "missions" in life, and it's the right choice for them to put so much of themselves into those missions that their life looks "unbalanced". And I'd also argue that there's no "correct" answer for what you're supposed to find meaningful. But I also think that there are very few cases of people like that, and it just seems very unlikely that tunneling so much you have no social life would be the right choice for tunnel man. So in that sense I agree!
But if he's just taking all the time so many of us spend staring at our phones, and tunneling instead? ❤️
It's utterly subjective, of course, but I guess I'd put books somewhere near between "chess" and "settlers of catan"? I think social media is pretty far up towards the upper-right since humans are social creatures and algorithms optimize everything for engagement. I guess blogs are somewhere in the middle. I think there is more of a social aspect—even if you never interact with someone who writes a blog, it still feels like more of a parasocial relationship than books do. And while blogs aren't algorithmically optimized, there is a much shorter feedback loop for writing them than writing books, which surely increases how much writers are influenced by what resonates with readers?
There's also the old theory that many books aren't actually meant to be read! Cynics say they're just a way for writers to do book tours, and for book-buyers to give gifts and have impressive-looking bookshelves. If you believe that, then maybe reading those books is closer to tunneling...
Similar: I'm a teenager, and at our church a group of about 14 of us are putting on a Shakespeare play. No particular reason, just for fun. One of my friends had to miss play practice one Saturday and seemed genuinely disappointed; when I asked him why he answered "I AMUSE MYSELF at these things." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This triggered some nostalgic memories of being a teenager ten years ago. Beikg in drama club, making costumes, learning lines--good memories. So thank you for that.
1) Slightly Bizarre, which helps spread the story.
2) Internal locus. It takes gumption to say "I am going to dig the tunnel", but gumption is good and wholesome.
3) Upending the Labor Theory of Value: "If working hard doesn't matter, how come this guy's tunnel is so sick"
4) Non-offensive. If he were launching punk rock posters into his neighbor's yard, it'd be mean. Nobody's hurt.
5) The fact that the couple didn't break up is the icing on the cake. 99% of Reddit is people airing dirty laundry and explaining that they've already dumped someone, or writing "My bf runs me over with a Jeep everyday, should I stay or leave?" This is a slightly bizarre thing with a sane reaction from both parties.
In conclusion: Weird, harmless, motivated people are unicorns on Reddit and it's nice to remember they exist.
Whenever I talk to my girlfriend about my obsessions it doesn't go as well as that; I always seem to end up digging myself a hole.
(..er, sorry. Love the story; thanks for sharing! I find I agree with your overall taxonomy but would maybe quibble with the location of some individual items within it)
There is a human need to PRODUCE. This is different from the need to create - creation implies something new, or even useful. But production can just be production for the sake of it.
Sometimes I work on a big square that I'm knitting. The square isn't going to be anything or do anything but it's satisfying to see stitches added. It's nice to see the tunnel grow bigger!
That's my theory on tunnel man anyway.
I think you are putting your finger right on it: tunneling is a clear process that is easy to make observable progress in and feel like you are improving things. A huge number of human activities provide basically the same thing, that continuous feeling of accomplishment and getting things done, even if they are kind of pointless over all. That's probably 90% of hobbies.
tunnel man is like a nice version of the wailing wall in paul auster's "the music of chance"—which also, weirdly, had a little bit of a catnippy quality. maybe there's something inherently interesting about making a big effort for something with an unknown payoff (see: stonehenge, michael heizer)?
The thing about tunneling that differs from most of the other "anti-pornographies" on your list is that it's a *project* with clear indications of progress and physical persistence of that progress over time. I'm not a tunneler myself, but this sort of thing seems far more gratifying to me than meditation, yoga, or sitting on the beach.
The closest similar thing in my own life that I can think of is building big LEGO kits at a leisurely pace. I do it when I want to and because I want to, not because I have to. It's engrossing but not taxing. And you have a persistent physical artifact when finished.
As for evolution, I suspect that natural selection favors "industriousness" -- i.e., a general affinity for work. So I would not assume that an activity such as tunneling is counter-evolutionary.
Great point. I guess yoga can *sort* of be a project, if you think about developing your skill. But the feedback loop isn't nearly as visceral as building a physical thing. If you add that "is a product" dimension, then it's hard for me to think many similar things that aren't also building physical objects. Maybe... writing a novel that no one could ever read?
Lots of kids like to dig holes and try to "tunnel to the center of the Earth" or whatever. There's something fascinating about what's under there, and making a space away from everything else. Not unlike a clubhouse or treehouse, but kind of more organic because it's down in the earth itself. But an awful lot of work!
Great point. Which reminds me that when I was a kid, my friends and I dug an "underground fort" -- basically just a curved tunnel that we could go down into and hang out, light small roots on fire, read Playboys we had found in people's trash, and so on.
Between the tunneling and the Playboys, I guess we connected the opposite corners of dynomight's chart. I have no idea what conclusion to draw from that.
Like the sentiment but can't agree with the conclusion.
On the one hand, yes, someone being obsessed with something for its own sake sounds healthy. On the other... there is a very real human phenomenon of "screws coming loose" where someone does something compulsively forever and will jump through whatever necessary hoops (explaining things to other people, promising changes, etc) in order to not change. We're right to be a little scared by it: when someone no longer follows "human programming" there's no way to use our human programming to predict what they're going to next. They've gone "off-script" and now there's the potential for true chaos (see e.g. every horror movie ever; they're basically about coping with this fear in one form or another).
The problem is distinguishing "a healthy love of a weird creation" with "a screw is truly loose and you have no idea what happens next". Like, kids love to dig hole and imagine cool underground forts, fine. But crazy people also love to dig holes and then murder people in them (I mean... maybe). How do you know the difference? Well this person is also socially isolated from everybody else and evidently tunneling "compulsively" and not interested in... more normative ways of spending their obsessive time. Gut check says there's a 50/50 at best that this ends up healthy vs super fucked up. Not sure which way it goes yet, of course, but the more erratic it gets, the less cozy and more horror-movie-in-the-making it feels.
I think having a positive view on tunnel man requires assuming he delivered on his promise to moderate things.
I mean... I'd argue that some people find "missions" in life, and it's the right choice for them to put so much of themselves into those missions that their life looks "unbalanced". And I'd also argue that there's no "correct" answer for what you're supposed to find meaningful. But I also think that there are very few cases of people like that, and it just seems very unlikely that tunneling so much you have no social life would be the right choice for tunnel man. So in that sense I agree!
But if he's just taking all the time so many of us spend staring at our phones, and tunneling instead? ❤️
Hmm. Where does reading fall on the spectrum, and how much does it matter what one is reading? IE, books versus blogs versus social media?
It's utterly subjective, of course, but I guess I'd put books somewhere near between "chess" and "settlers of catan"? I think social media is pretty far up towards the upper-right since humans are social creatures and algorithms optimize everything for engagement. I guess blogs are somewhere in the middle. I think there is more of a social aspect—even if you never interact with someone who writes a blog, it still feels like more of a parasocial relationship than books do. And while blogs aren't algorithmically optimized, there is a much shorter feedback loop for writing them than writing books, which surely increases how much writers are influenced by what resonates with readers?
There's also the old theory that many books aren't actually meant to be read! Cynics say they're just a way for writers to do book tours, and for book-buyers to give gifts and have impressive-looking bookshelves. If you believe that, then maybe reading those books is closer to tunneling...
Like church, maybe tunnel man just wants to connect with fellow earthlings and dirtbags?
This is ADORABLE! Thank you so much for writing.
How'd you find out about this man?
Similar: I'm a teenager, and at our church a group of about 14 of us are putting on a Shakespeare play. No particular reason, just for fun. One of my friends had to miss play practice one Saturday and seemed genuinely disappointed; when I asked him why he answered "I AMUSE MYSELF at these things." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This triggered some nostalgic memories of being a teenager ten years ago. Beikg in drama club, making costumes, learning lines--good memories. So thank you for that.
Tunnel man is the anti-hero we need.
Tunnel Man rocks, for a few reasons:
1) Slightly Bizarre, which helps spread the story.
2) Internal locus. It takes gumption to say "I am going to dig the tunnel", but gumption is good and wholesome.
3) Upending the Labor Theory of Value: "If working hard doesn't matter, how come this guy's tunnel is so sick"
4) Non-offensive. If he were launching punk rock posters into his neighbor's yard, it'd be mean. Nobody's hurt.
5) The fact that the couple didn't break up is the icing on the cake. 99% of Reddit is people airing dirty laundry and explaining that they've already dumped someone, or writing "My bf runs me over with a Jeep everyday, should I stay or leave?" This is a slightly bizarre thing with a sane reaction from both parties.
In conclusion: Weird, harmless, motivated people are unicorns on Reddit and it's nice to remember they exist.