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Assorted thoughts 2/10/2021

1/ in table tennis, playing against left-handed ppl or non-meta variants like defense can feel "cheap". the unique variant has lots of experience against the mainstream but not vice versa. there aren't that many left handed ppl to practice against

once a field becomes established a "meta" forms around the clearest path for winning. for table-tennis an attack-based style is best for winning gold medals at cost of only being suitable for young adults in their prime. at the non-elite levels however all styles are possible

however b/c everyone is imitating the elite style b/c it is "best" the everyday can become incestuous and inefficient. any variance from the 'right way' is felt as cheating even though this 'elite' method doesn't work for most ppl.

(it works for china b/c it can afford special schools where young children can learn and practice, reaching peak skill at the same time they reach peak reaction, strength, speed, etc...)

when a domain gets overly "incestuous" where everyone is just copying each other and there isn't diversity, it's prone to being hacked by "beginner's luck". e.g. an unorthodox style that "breaks the meta".

it shames ppl b/c it makes apparent that the 'experts' are just hyper proficient at the in-group circlejerk of looping and counterlooping at a plateau.

there's a similar parallel for dog-breeding. sometimes you WANT the beginner dog-breeder b/c those dogs might be healthier. the more generations a breeder goes through, the more care they need to keep the bloodline diverse enough to avoid bad incestuous traits from manifesting