alt Hacker NewsI agree with the sentiment, it is good to care, it is admirable and perhaps virtuous to care.
But it is not cool to care. Cool does mean detached, offhand, poised, aloof, unperturbed. That's why it's called "cool".
We don't need to hijack the term and pretend that it's cool to be enthusiastic and dorky and to talk too loudly when we get excited about something. The point is that those things are good even if they're not cool.
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No, that's myth that we "uncool kids" fall into without realizing it.
Cool means you are confident. You're unbothered by what other people say because you have faith in yourself, you like yourself.
It does not mean "I don't care about anything." It just so happens that the average person doesn't care a lot about "things," so the average cool person doesn't either.
So if someone enthusiastically shows me some crazy game mechanic they made and I say "that's cool", I am using the word "cool" incorrectly?
This kind of cool is just a phase. After a certain age, it really just looks like you don't want to try living life.
Sangfroid, even.
I wonder what criticisms could be leveled at the virtues of proactive energy, passion, and incessant curiosity. I notice that they make me feel slightly nauseous. This is something I'm curious about. What really is a dork?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cool
"7 informal: b: very fashionable, impressive, or appealing in a way that is generally approved of especially by young people"
The term has been around since the 1930s, and like all old slang that started out niche and went mainstream, it has been generalized and had its meaning diluted to the point of near-meaninglessness. There are readings of it where it and its opposite could describe the same thing, i.e. uncool and cool are the same. (Easy test to gage meaninglessness.)
I use it as a generic marker of approval or assent similar to "OK."
"We're moving the meeting to Tuesday."
"Cool."