Bluejay responds to me:
quote:
Isn't this the same logic as, "We can't know everything, so we can't know anything?"
But that's precisely my point: We use technology to try and reach equivalency. Thus, we add extra lanes to the outer edges of the pool so that the ones on the end don't have the disadvantage of racing against the wall. We deepen the pool so that it's more about swimming against the water and not against the turbulence. We'll never get to perfection, but why whine about the technology that's trying to get there?
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An engineer can also manipulate the environment. So, when you allow the environment to be manipulated creatively, you allow engineers to compete in an athletic competition.
But that will always be the case whenever you try to standardize things. So if it cannot be avoided, why not make it the best possible?
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it is not the point of sports like running and swimming.
Why not?
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But, you've still left it open for the engineers and scientists to influence the outcome.
So? That influence applies to everybody on the field, so there is no advantage between competitors.
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Why can't I use an example from college sports?
Because we weren't talking about them. Collegiate athletics throws in things that have to do with training. When you go to a school with more facilities, who have a program that allows athletes to concentrate upon training, results will be different from schools where athletics are more for enrichment. When the school bends over backwards to work your schedule so that you can leave the state to attend games, that's a very different training regimen than a school that doesn't.
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Mark Spitz didn't have the equipment that Michael Phelps has.
And again, the achievements of Phelps do not diminish those of Spitz. When Spitz doesn't think there's anything wrong, who are we to contradict him?
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So yes, the point is changed when you try to compare people across different generations.
Yep. And everybody is cognizant of that fact. So since everybody gets it, what is the point of the complaint? Why do you think tennis keeps talking about "the open era"? Things changed. But the fact that they did doesn't diminish the achievements of those competing either before or after.
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But, when you compare two men's performances across time, with different technology, everybody just has to speculate on who would win.
So? People like to argue about that. Hell, isn't that practically the point of team sports? Would this season's winner have triumphed over last season's?
Rrhain
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