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This is a problem of having an open liberal culture -- loneliness. In closed conservative cultures, people have he same interests.
by fjsolwmv 8y ago
This is a problem of having an open liberal culture -- loneliness. In closed conservative cultures, people have he same interests.
- na85 8y agoI don't see the link between liberalism and loneliness. Are you implying that liberals can't share interests?
- iainmerrick 8y agoI think the idea is that in a (small c) conservative community, everybody has the same religion and goes to the same church, say, and that fosters community spirit. In a more (small l) liberal society, people are more free to figure out religion for themselves and do their own thing, but that contributes to social atomisation. This isn’t specific to religion, that’s just an example (but I think a pretty useful one).
- api 8y agoI've heard the related argument that cooperation between people with more differences requires more cognitive effort, so you can get a simple economic or second law of thermodynamics explanation for loneliness. More effort equals less of something.
- api 8y agoIn closed conservative cultures, people pretend to have the same interests to fit in and avoid persecution but pursue other interests in secret. I think philosophical explanations for our loneliness epidemic (found on both right and left) are missing more obvious practical causes: how we build, urban planning, economic systems that incentivize workaholism and anxiety, etc. Not saying other causes don't exist, but we should look at the simple ones first. Gave you a compensatory upvote though because I am sick of ideological echo chambers. Things one disagrees with nevertheless can provoke productive discussion.