[alexpotato]

Having done multiple martial arts (Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Filipino martial arts and, if you count it, fencing) I've come to the conclusion that Aikido is the Lisp of the martial arts world:

- it's considered very beautiful

- it takes a long time to become fluent in it

- it "expands your mind"

- in theory it can "work on the street" but in practice people reach for other tools

[tmtvl]

Not having practised Aikido, but somewhat familiar with Lisp:

> it's considered very beautiful

Funny, I've heard it described as 'porridge with fingernail clippings', which doesn't seem to me like a description evoking a 'very beautiful' image.

> it takes a long time to become fluent in it

Not more so than many other programming languages. Of course, most people don't start with Lisp, so their frame of reference is off.

> it "expands your mind"

A fairly meaningless statement which is claimed of a great many things. Is Lisp any more or less mind-expanding than, say, marijuana?

> in theory it can "work on the street" but in practice people reach for other tools

What do you mean, 'in theory'? Lisp has been used, in practise, by NASA, for running a robot on Mars: <https://www.corecursive.com/lisp-in-space-with-ron-garret/>. If that isn't 'working on the street', then, by golly, that's a mean street you've got there.

[j_bum]

Agreed it looks beautiful in those vids. It feels like almost more of a dance than something that might “work on the street”.

Hopefully not offensive, just my layman observation.

[rramadass]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48304232

[rodolphoarruda]

I agree. And it gets better with age as you won't care too much if it works on the street or not; you'll have acquired better tools like firearms and good lawyers to defend yourself.

[JsonDemWitOster]

You are not the first person to make that connection: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.00485