Fantasy, real life, problem solving

[erratio]

I have recently realised that i I ever want to be a Serious Intellectual (or even just do things that are cool but challenging, like programming pet projects), I'll need to cut back on my fantasy/sci fi reading  and game-playing hobbies. The reason? My 'thing', that dictates what I find the most interesting, is basically problem-solving. Present me with a complicated system or problem and I will bend over backwards trying to understand it (and then get bored as soon as I sufficiently understand it. This is definitely a weakness of mine, since "I understand what I need to do to get the answer but I can't motivate myself to go through the boring mechanical part" doesn't fly as an excuse at uni). But any competent fiction author is also a decent worldbuilder. And those fictional worlds hold just as much attraction for me as real life science, since a well-built fictional world is a shiny new complex system that I start out knowing nothing about and need to unravel through the hints that the author drops in passing. As for computer games, they thrive on being able to use systems too complicated for a human to calculate by hand, and usually also have giant worlds to explore.
So in short, my brain doesn't distinguish well enough between reality and fiction. And what's more, fictional worlds are almost always easier to understand than real world problems. This makes it more pleasant to read books and play games than to work on real world stuff, since I get a faster payoff. The trick will be to train myself to be able to ignore those short-term gains and go for the longer-term ones that are ultimately more satisfying.

Comments

[lotusvine.livejournal.com]

Are you sure you're not devaluing SF/F in this statement? What are the merits to being a 'serious intellectual'? Why will 'serious stuff' be ultimately more satisfying that exploring imaginary worlds? Do you think you have a bias towards 'serious' stuff because it has more of a more serious weight and prestige to it and others, perhaps your parents, will value it more? Unless of course, you're heading towards career academia! :)

[focality.livejournal.com]

I can identify with this. I'm an avid reader but I all too often quit the "serious" stuff but will slog through a mediocre piece of fantasy/sci-fi just to see what happens (and even though it's predictable as hell). Or, I'll prefer to study chess problems or enjoy a good board game rather than the daily challenges encountered at my job, which often lead to breakthroughs for our little publishing venture.

You say the payoff is faster, which I agree with, but isn't also the fact something is finished once the problems are solved? Reality just keeps going, humming along...

(I got to your LJ by clicking on my "board games" interest in my LJ profile. It gives you a list of LJ users and you just click and read. How else is LJ supposed to work? I'm not some weirdo e-stalker.)