Useless skills

I think a lot of us have useless skills. It's like being good at Trivial Pursuit. By definition, the information in that game is without purpose. It's trivial. So if you're good at it, your pursuits are trivial.

But it goes beyond that. I think we all have skills that aren't useful. Some of them we came across honestly. By that I mean some of them we developed thinking that they would be useful. Like learning to fight as a child. It's good to know. But how often, as an adult, are you going to need that skill?



Or take computers. If you learned Fortran, or C++, or Basic, that was a waste of time. Those skills have no value today. Those skills became useless because they became out dated. Like driving stick is going to be completely useless (probably) in a few more years. Already, it's almost useless.

Then there are the useless skills that will come in HUGE handy, but only in special circumstances. Like, for example, a zombie apocalypse. Knowing how to hunt isn't needed right now, but in a zombie apocalypse, it would be. So would knowing how to purify water, or start fires. Most of the skills of a criminal (lock picking, hot wiring, etc) would be useful in a zombie apocalypse.

But what about the other skills. The truly useless. Is my ability to play video games ever really going to come in handy? I'm not very good at them. I'm good at the puzzles, and I'm good at concentrating for hours and hours. But I'm not the guy who beats every game on expert. Hell, I won't usually even play a game on expert.

Or take Rock Paper Scissors. I am good at that. I can beat most people most of the time. And yes, it is because I'm recognizing their patterns, because I'm manipulating their subconscious and because I'm following a series of strategies. But when would THAT come in handy?

Skills are all over the map. Some of them are valuable for employment purposes. Some are valuable because they provide joy and relaxation. And some of them aren't valuable. Not at all.

Those are the ones I feel like I have the most of, at least right now.

I'd apologize for being so depressive and melancholy, but let's be honest here: no one but me is reading this.