Life In 19x19

John Fairbairn wrote: If you exclude totally one-sided conversations of the type "If only I'd played this hane I would have won," you will have eliminated 95% of the "discussions," with the same inability to see the hane being evident in the inability to see the glassy-eyed look in the other person's eyes.

As a consolation, I've spent five years immersed in competitive table tennis, and there too the capacity to keep talking about (one's own) table tennis is surprising. Excuses for losing include: the attitude of the opponent, the noise in the room, the slippery floor, but nothing beats net and edge balls. If you'd conduct a survey among table tennis players, you'd find a large portion who truly think they get the worse side of fate.

But I recently went back to my go club and found nothing but kind spirits, discussing go in the most modest manner and talking about more important things in life. That happened in the table tennis club too, after a bit of investment into the people. Mankind is not lost.

talking about more important things in life

Now it gets interesting.

The few things that are more important to me than go are usually not up for discussion or talk.

Sometimes people ask questions about the relation of go and philosophy.

For me it just fulfills a need. A strong need. A place for my mind to experience the joy of curiosity and exploration.

Not really. Thay aren't interested in it.