“if the universe is infinite, there must be aliens. so why haven’t they come calling?”
i suspect the answer may be:
every tool using species develops social media before it develops faster than light travel
and
no species can survive the toxic social ecosystem it creates.
the emergent property of social media is to find your last nerve and grate on it until you’re a sufficiently agitated ball of vibrating indignation to spread the meme that did it far and wide to make sure everyone knows how annoying it is like some sort of digital dandelion generating its own wind.
this is not the path to happy weekends or sound mental health.
go outside. unplug. do something else. let the toxins drain and the wounds cease to fester. breathe.
maybe go live a little. see some actual people. make some memories instead of smacking the aversive arousal feeder bar of seeing what’s trending and wanting to fight with it.
I would respectfully disagree, in part. I had never used Twitter prior to the pandemic. My FB was horrible (still is, but I no longer go there.) But on Twitter I found good data and a wealth of independent opinions. I got pissed when they started censorship, deleted my account. But then could find no other source for the info and alternative opinions I was after, had to get a new account. I am very careful about who I follow, and especially about reading comments. Some posters, I just never look at comments, just primary tweets. There is still more good data and independent thinking here, or pointers to same, than anywhere else I have found. I regularly visit a few not on Twitter, notably the Gato and James Howard Kunstler. But I find Twitter is, in a way, each person's creation. I don't see much of the toxicity, which I don't disagree exists, but can be eliminated or ignored.And I follow NOBODY I personally know.
This is the way. I have the same history of deleting my account due to the censorship and just recently started a new account for the same reasons. Avoiding replies is a good way to maintain faith in humanity. Any politician’s tweet is a cesspool of the latest taking points or whataboutism. The constant attempts at dunking can be amusing but add zero value.
Great advice. Many people succumbed to substance addictions over the past year; my drug is news and social media. It's bad. Been going for a long bike ride every night but it's not enough.
Agreed. But school just informed us that with a population vax rate of 83%, kids are still required to mask in school full time. Twitter seems to reflect the real world we are living in. Sadly.
Yes. I did chores before FB this am and found how much more clear my mind is. (My FB is a fairly pleasant place.) We are active with Concerned Citizens and went to two in person meetings to protest 6000 acres of prime farmland to be chewed up by 20 foot high solar panels. We are trying to get a brake out on the number of acres being taken by this. We are N Illinois and not that much sun.
Here's the problem... the screaming hoards on social media are increasingly able to inflict their will on everyone else through government mandates. Going outside can make them even harder to ignore.
Sadly, there is no "in person" school board meeting to show up to where I am located. They moved that back to Zoom as well. At least 50% pro-choice commenting on the mask proposal, yet unanimous board vote to re-mask the kids that have been mask free all summer.
truer words never spoken. I was w/out internet yesterday/last evening. I missed reading you and others. Some of what I see reinforces that I am not crazy, that things just might be ok in the end (if there is one) and that people by and large are smart, educated and think rationally.
Great Minds... I have purposed eschewed Twitter for the last couple days, except for blind posting via Buffer, and I feel wonderful. I am curious, but not enough so to make me check!
I actually can't understand people who live on Twitter. I've gotten caught up in it a few times, but then I try to go back on and I feel like I'm walking into brothel or a leper colony, something really unhealthy and exploitative.
By the time any civilization has advanced to the point that they can willfully travel the universe they would likely be uninterested in contacting us. That or they’d be too alien to us to meaningfully communicate.
1. Conspiracies are impossible in the open West. Our recent string of "bad luck" is the result of perverse incentives -- mainly those produced by our government.
2. We need to separate the concepts of "education" and "schooling." One can be extremely (and expensively!) well-schooled and completely uneducated, and vice versa.
Fun cat trivia: cats can purr for a variety of reasons, including to self-soothe during periods of extreme stress and annoyance!
I know I'd be preaching to the choir here to note how terrible for human health Twitter is, but I'll say it anyway. Everyone just get off Twitter. Stop lending it your power and voice. I promise you are getting the worse end of the deal.
I actually have sympathy for the brainwashed and propagandized fools on Twitter. I think many actually mean well but are simply incapable of understanding the damage they do:
I have zero for our corrupt, lazy and incompetent politicians. Most know deep down the harm they cause and their blind ambition overcomes their consciences. They think they’re playing a game, but it’s with real lives and the collateral damage they are willing to create is unconscionable.
I would respectfully disagree, in part. I had never used Twitter prior to the pandemic. My FB was horrible (still is, but I no longer go there.) But on Twitter I found good data and a wealth of independent opinions. I got pissed when they started censorship, deleted my account. But then could find no other source for the info and alternative opinions I was after, had to get a new account. I am very careful about who I follow, and especially about reading comments. Some posters, I just never look at comments, just primary tweets. There is still more good data and independent thinking here, or pointers to same, than anywhere else I have found. I regularly visit a few not on Twitter, notably the Gato and James Howard Kunstler. But I find Twitter is, in a way, each person's creation. I don't see much of the toxicity, which I don't disagree exists, but can be eliminated or ignored.And I follow NOBODY I personally know.
This is the way. I have the same history of deleting my account due to the censorship and just recently started a new account for the same reasons. Avoiding replies is a good way to maintain faith in humanity. Any politician’s tweet is a cesspool of the latest taking points or whataboutism. The constant attempts at dunking can be amusing but add zero value.
Fact Check: True. They were on their way here, but crashed into the sun taking AlienGram selfies.
or maybe, we are them
Great advice. Many people succumbed to substance addictions over the past year; my drug is news and social media. It's bad. Been going for a long bike ride every night but it's not enough.
go longer. and have a half a glass of wine. :-) But yeah, some nights I stay up way too late deep diving in these endless underwater caves. Not good.
Agreed. But school just informed us that with a population vax rate of 83%, kids are still required to mask in school full time. Twitter seems to reflect the real world we are living in. Sadly.
Yes. I did chores before FB this am and found how much more clear my mind is. (My FB is a fairly pleasant place.) We are active with Concerned Citizens and went to two in person meetings to protest 6000 acres of prime farmland to be chewed up by 20 foot high solar panels. We are trying to get a brake out on the number of acres being taken by this. We are N Illinois and not that much sun.
Here's the problem... the screaming hoards on social media are increasingly able to inflict their will on everyone else through government mandates. Going outside can make them even harder to ignore.
they really can't. try finding the likeminded, showing up in person and fighting the schools and ignoring diktats and simply refusing to comply.
i'm seeing it work an awful lot, at least outside the clownshow carnival states.
Even in the so-called covid-crazy states, the baseball fans are ignoring it all.
Correct! You have to "hold the line" or else the next time there will be no line and everything will be lost
Did that this morning. 🇺🇸 Pressing DeSantis to hammer down on DNC-funded, law-breaking board members. Drying momma tears. Waving flags. Felt good!
It’s the media’s heavy weighting of what the zeroes say on Twitter that does the most harm. Too many “journalists” are extremely online types.
Sadly, there is no "in person" school board meeting to show up to where I am located. They moved that back to Zoom as well. At least 50% pro-choice commenting on the mask proposal, yet unanimous board vote to re-mask the kids that have been mask free all summer.
An update on what's going on in my state: https://tbdailynews.com/i-will-pay-50-to-the-first-massachusetts-student-who-gets-suspended-for-refusing-to-abide-by-charlie-bakers-last-minute-mask-mandate-for-schools/
Twitter is mostly dominated by fanatics, frauds, fear-mongers and fools… Prolonged exposure to them is hazardous to one’s health.
truer words never spoken. I was w/out internet yesterday/last evening. I missed reading you and others. Some of what I see reinforces that I am not crazy, that things just might be ok in the end (if there is one) and that people by and large are smart, educated and think rationally.
my therapeutic cigar is due in 20 minutes....
Great Minds... I have purposed eschewed Twitter for the last couple days, except for blind posting via Buffer, and I feel wonderful. I am curious, but not enough so to make me check!
Me too! I am amazed by the extra physical energy I have now. I knew Twitter was a time suck but I did not realize it was using actual energy!
I actually can't understand people who live on Twitter. I've gotten caught up in it a few times, but then I try to go back on and I feel like I'm walking into brothel or a leper colony, something really unhealthy and exploitative.
By the time any civilization has advanced to the point that they can willfully travel the universe they would likely be uninterested in contacting us. That or they’d be too alien to us to meaningfully communicate.
Social media is a haven for narcissists, and chinese bots fanning the flames of our destruction from within.
Nah. I'll keep pounding my hobbyhorses:
1. Conspiracies are impossible in the open West. Our recent string of "bad luck" is the result of perverse incentives -- mainly those produced by our government.
2. We need to separate the concepts of "education" and "schooling." One can be extremely (and expensively!) well-schooled and completely uneducated, and vice versa.
I am reminded of Stromae's "Carmen"
Temporary solution to Fermi's Paradox: this actually would be the most embarrassing moment in human history to have aliens dropping by.
Alien scout: Greetings earthling, we bring knowledge to take humankind up to the next civilizational stage.
Me: Save it cowboy, we went the other way. Move along, nothing to see here.
Here's a piece exactly on that topic -- The Great Filter. https://empathy.guru/2021/03/06/the-great-filter-and-development-of-our-young-people/
Happy Friday!
>"agitated ball of vibrating indignation"
Fun cat trivia: cats can purr for a variety of reasons, including to self-soothe during periods of extreme stress and annoyance!
I know I'd be preaching to the choir here to note how terrible for human health Twitter is, but I'll say it anyway. Everyone just get off Twitter. Stop lending it your power and voice. I promise you are getting the worse end of the deal.
I actually have sympathy for the brainwashed and propagandized fools on Twitter. I think many actually mean well but are simply incapable of understanding the damage they do:
I have zero for our corrupt, lazy and incompetent politicians. Most know deep down the harm they cause and their blind ambition overcomes their consciences. They think they’re playing a game, but it’s with real lives and the collateral damage they are willing to create is unconscionable.