Derelict Space

“Violence, as the absence of competition, has no performance anxiety component. It really is just touching, if we mean it in the same way that we would smash a soda can flat, or slam a car door, or break a stick. The physics and biomechanics involved are all the same. Any considerations beyond that are imaginary. The physical realization that violence is about a failure to compete, an end-run around competition, is liberating. Gone is the worry about being big enough, fast enough, or strong enough. The other guy’s skill counts for absolutely nothing. It’s all about you. The other guy is prey to be taken, meat to be butchered. The pressure is off and you are free to do as you will. You are exercising your legacy as a predator – and by all accounts, predation is pleasurable.” Tim Larkin and Chris Ranck-Buhr How to Survive the Most Critical 5 Seconds of your Life, 43