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The most valuable point for me: Gamification! A friend of mine wrote his master's thesis on that topic. And yeah, turns out it works really well if done right ;
by archi42 8y ago
The most valuable point for me: Gamification! A friend of mine wrote his master's thesis on that topic. And yeah, turns out it works really well if done right ;-)
Regarding the rest of the text: I wonder what value people using these apps get out of them?
I share some of his sentiment: The aim is to onboard a bunch of people with a "get rich quick"-kind-of-mentality and flood a platform with content of questionable content (I mean, the content could be good - but somehow I doubt it if a single person creates a thousand apps). On the other hand: Living on 6k$ in Morocco? Could be a worse life...
- erikpukinskis 8y agoThe secret of Hell, I think, is that you get there before death. By doing evil things, you invite an evil mentality into your mind which will prey on you as you become more feeble. The final transition from deathbed to the eternal fire is just a formality. If you plant the seeds of hell in your mind, they will be all that remains in the end. I guess some people think they will never become feeble, that they will maintain the power to keep the evil stuff separate from the rest of their life. But we are all enfeebled in the end.
- stallmanite 8y agoDid you come up with this personally and/or is there someplace I can get more? Damn
- gerbilly 8y agoA famous Zen story says a very similar thing: There was once a general who asked the Zen master Hakuin:"Are there really such things as Heaven and Hell?" "What do you do for a living?" Hakuin asked him. "I'm a general." "Ha, ha, ha! What idiot asked you to be his general? You look more like a butcher to me", the Zen master teased the general. "I'll cut you to pieces!" the general angrily pulled his sword. "Here lie the gates of Hell!" said the master. "Excuse me...Please forgive my insolence.” And Hakuin said:"Here lie the gates of Heaven." Heaven and Hell aren't places that suddenly appear after death. They exist here and now. Good and evil involve just a single instant of thought, and the gates of Heaven and Hell are ready to open for you at any time. (From Zen Stories: The Staff and Shout of the Venerable Ones)
- PavlovsCat 8y agoPride ruined the angels, Their shame them restores; Lurks the joy that is sweetest In stings of remorse. -- from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The Sphinx"
- mettamage 8y agoSeconded, I think I've learned something new about life. I knew a similar idea which I'd call instant karma that is basically this but I wouldn't be able to word it so eloquently.
- srcreigh 8y agoI heard a podcast this weekend which explains the distinction between hell and the condition of being dead ("in Hades"). "The Descent of Jesus into Hades" by Eastern Orthodox Christian Fr. Thomas Hopko (32:25, transcript available) https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko/the_descent_of_jesus_into_hades https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko/the_descent_of_j... Here's a quote: > So we determine whether we are in hell or not by our own belief or unbelief, by our love of love, and our love of light, and our love of truth, and our love of glory, or by our hatred of it. That has nothing to do with Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, who died for us. When He descended into Sheol and Hades, it means simply that He died, and through death, trampled down death and raised the dead, all the dead, there is no one left in the tomb, as it says. In St. John Chrysostom’s sermon on Paschal night, he said, “No one is left in the tomb. Christ is risen and life reigns.” But if you hate that life, it is hell. If you love it, it is Paradise.
- coldtea 8y agoNice. Posted something similar from early christian theology in the same thread.
- cynicalkane 8y agoC. S. Lewis writes along similar lines in The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters, two very different books, but both of which of I'd credit as changing my life. The common theme in both is that to be damned is not to sin greatly, but to become comfortable with the abandonment of good.
- kuroguro 8y agoNot the exact words I'd use but I've come to a very similar conclusion :)
- laythea 8y agoThat's deep.
- paulclinger 8y ago"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn)
- 1000units 8y agoThis is an excellent, truthful appeal to secularists. One should note further that demons literally exist and are actively roaming the Earth, putting us in warfare for our souls we are growing increasingly ill-equipped to handle. Learn more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditionalist_Catholicism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditionalist_Catholicism
- emddudley 8y agoI don't see the connection. Are you saying that the demons are people? I can barely understand that Wikipedia article.
- srcreigh 8y agoAncient Christianity believed in invisible powers that influence human beings to have evil thoughts, desires, passions. So, it's not just bad human habits, there can be external influences as well. This is part of the Nicene creed: "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible." Demons are generally believed to be powerful enough to influence humans against their will. This is why Christians pray "Lord, have mercy" or "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" throughout the day, so that God helps them in the "spiritual warfare" for their souls.
- 1000units 8y agoThere's the rub.
- coldtea 8y ago>The secret of Hell, I think, is that you get there before death. By doing evil things, you invite an evil mentality into your mind which will prey on you as you become more feeble. That's the Christian orthodox view btw -- that you make your own hell by your stance and action (in which view, hell is not an actual place, even in another dimension, with fire pits and demons, but just your resentment and the distance you feel from God's love). ". . . those who find themselves in hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo no greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in hell are deprived of the love of God . . . But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed!" (Saint Isaac of Syria).
- jackpirate 8y agoThis view is certainly well within Christian orthodoxy, but to call it the orothodox view is, I think, a bit of a stretch.
- coldtea 8y agoI mean the view of the orthodox church (a specific denomination, and the oldest now) -- not the "orthodox view" as in THE most official.
- camjohnson26 8y agoFrom the article, after adding Gamification: > Before I knew it, the conversion rate from new user to active user ( level 3+ ) skyrocketed from 5% to 45%. And also: > Users could share their referral link and get a 10% cut of the ad revenue from every app the referred user makes, forever. For example, if user A brings in user B, and user B makes an app that brings in $10/day, user A would get $1 every day without lifting a finger. Pyramid scheme or just Multi-Level Marketing?
- therealmarv 8y agoHave some crowdsourcing experience with gamification and competition: Biggest lesson learned is that mostly only works on men and not on women!