Procrastination is not generally benefical

Thanks Con, and good luck!Procrastination affects everyone and can show up in many different ways. For instance, when a student procrastinates, it not only affects his grade and the quality of his content, but also the teacher’s opinion of him as a student. I believe procrastination should be carefully documented before we say that it is beneficial.Argument 1: Breathing is a task which needs to be accomplished.According to Ann Brown, the average person takes between 17,280 and 23,040 breaths a day.[4] Not only do we breathe constantly, but it also seems that we need to breathe to stay alive.[5] For these reasons, I believe that breathing is, for all practical purposes, necessary. Holding one’s breath in can result in brain damage,[6] temporary blindness,[7] and even death.[8] While certain forms of holding air in can have some temporary soothing effects, there are usually other long term problems involved. For instance, according to Breathing.com, “Breath holding can give some relief from hyperventilation but at the cost of tightening the stomach muscles, worsening the startle response and over time inviting shallow breathing.”[9] I believe it follows that not breathing, or avoiding breathing, is bad. We can now structure a syllogism from the scientific evidence and definitions provided at the beginning of this debate.1. Breathing is a task which must be accomplished.2. Avoiding the act of breathing is bad.C. Therefore, in this way, procrastination is bad.This argument shows that procrastination is bad for something that we do constantly. I challenge my opponent to find something we do more than breathing which would be beneficial for us to procrastinate. Argument 2: Types of procrastination.According to Joel Brown, there are 6 different types of procrastinators, and only one type is said to feel that they work best when under pressure.[10] Unless there is a huge inequality in the population, I assume that procrastinating is only very useful for (roughly) 1/6 of the population. But for my opponent to win, he has to show how procrastination is beneficial (at least) 51% of the time.Even websites that emphasis the good traits of procrastination always have to remind us of all the bad forms it can easily become.[11] Chrissy Scivicque, who wrote an article claiming that procrastination isn’t always bad, said, “Procrastination becomes a problem, however, when it’s not being used productively or when it becomes a mindless form of escape.”[12]We can organize each form of procrastination based on this statement.• Procrastination that is productive and is not a mindless form of escape – good• Procrastination that is productive and is a mindless form of escape – problem• Procrastination that is not productive and is not a mindless form of escape – problem• Procrastination that is not productive and is a mindless form of escape – problem.If these forms of procrastination are relatively balanced, it follows that procrastination is generally beneficial for only 1 out of 4 cases. This would indicate that procrastination is not generally beneficial.Argument 3: JUST DO ITGET OFF OF YOUR BUM AND JUST DO IT!!!!!![13] Shia LaBeouf is a famous motivational speaker who has affected the lives of many individuals. His motivational speech “Just Do It” received over 13 million views and 200,000 likes on Youtube alone. His message is targeted towards people who want to procrastinate.Recently, Shia LaBeouf helped Goku to turn Super Saiyan.[14] Without Shia’s help, Goku might have procrastinated and never got around to turning into a super powerful blonde. This is extremely important to everyday life because Goku is pretty cool.[15] Also, good anime role models help inspire younger kids to find true meaning in their lives. For instance, a user posted this message on an anime forum: “I would say Luffy from One Piece has been one of my biggest role models in my life. I keep a one piece symbol on me pretty much 99% of the time. kind of obsessive but it reminds me to keep chasing my dreams.”[16]It seems, based on the testimony, that anime characters can inspire people to do great things. Who knows how many kids will feel inspired by Goku’s magical transformation, all thanks to Shia LaBeouf. JUST DO IT!!!!!!!Argument 4: Procrastination is not possible.Procrastination is not possible because time is an illusion.[17] We cannot prove that the past ever existed, or that the future will exist.[18] In fact, according to Josh Richardson, Quantum Theory proves that time does not exist. He states, “There is no past moment that flows into a future moment. Instead all the different possible configurations of the universe, every possible location of every atom throughout all of creation, exist simultaneously. Barbour’s Nows all exist at once in a vast Platonic realm that stands completely and absolutely without time.”[19] To illustrate the impossibility of time, ask yourself whether you were the same person you were five minutes ago. How about five years ago? What gives a person their individuality throughout time?The only sensible answer is that we are actually different people for each ‘second’ of our existence. This makes sense if every ‘second’ is actually a parallel universe, and there are multiple versions of me, each having a different experience. With so many parallel universes, it is no wonder that in some of them, I might have the illusion of a memory (or different thoughts which I falsely believe are memories). But for each universe, I have a different understanding, a different thought in my head, and I am even composed of different atoms.[20] This hypothesis has a bonus of nicely answering Meno’s Paradox (how can one learn what he does not know). The answer is that we are not learning; we are inherently static.Now this shows us that time does not exist. But is time philosophically possible?Let us turn to Zeno’s famous paradox to consider the answer. A runner is racing a tortoise, who receives a 10 meter head start to accommodate for its slow pace. The gun goes off. The runner fully expects to catch up with the tortoise, but each time he approaches his opponent, his opponent has moved a short distance. So the runner has to match that short distance. But each time he does, the tortoise would have moved an even shorter distance, which the runner again has to match. In the end, the runner cannot ever catch up with the tortoise. Here is a chart to help us visualize this idea.Runner Tortoise1 step ½ step½ step ¼ step¼ step 1/8 step… And so on… And so on…But if this can be applied to a full step, then it can also be applied to a ½ step, and a ¼ step, and a 1/8 step…Dr. Grimes has this to say. “So it sounds like I’m saying that you can complete an infinite process. Now an infinite process doesn’t have a last step. So how can something without a last step be completed?”[21]In short, motion is moving between an infinite amount of distances. Therefore, motion is a supertask, which is logically impossible.[22] In the same way, moving through time, forwards or backwards, is logically impossible. Therefore time is impossible.So if time is impossible, then procrastination is also impossible. For what static individual needs to accomplish certain tasks?And if procrastination is impossible, how can it be beneficial? I take it that impossibilities cannot exist. Therefore they cannot be beneficial. Note that this is about something which inherently CANNOT exist, not just something which does not exist. For instance, a 17$ bill could be beneficial if it existed. But if a 17$ bill could not exist, then it could not produce anything good in any possible universe. Ergo it is not beneficial. My arguments are the best.Sources:[4] https://blog.epa.gov...[5] http://www.clean-air-kids.org.uk...[6] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...[7] https://www.quora.com...[8] http://www.nbcnews.com...[9] http://www.breathing.com...[10] http://addicted2success.com...[11] http://www.lifehack.org...[12] http://www.forbes.com...[13] [14] [15] http://www.ign.com...[16] http://www.anime-forums.com...[17] https://www.google.com...[18] http://rationalwiki.org...[19] http://themindunleashed.org...[20]http://www.science20.com...[21] https://youtu.be...[22] https://en.wikipedia.org...