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> 15. Trying to compete on a single flat playing field with six billion other humans also creates problems. Our ancestors lived in bands of around 50 people.

> 15. Trying to compete on a single flat playing field with six billion other humans also creates problems. Our ancestors lived in bands of around 50 people. Today the media is constantly bombarding us with news of exceptionally rich and pretty people as if they lived next door to us; and very few people get a chance to be the best at any specialty. This is why I say social media isn't fun, and it has always been a cruel spectacle of what happens when you throw average people into the ring of elite competiton. Fun is when you can afford the stakes. I don't think most people can actually afford to lose.

sixQuarks 5y ago
Well, social media may be fun for those who are the worlds most beautiful and rich
- elliekelly 5y ago
  Is it though? I’m really not convinced it’s fun even for wealthy and beautiful people.
  - tucosan 5y ago
    Imagine you're wealthy and beautiful, and the first thing that comes to your mind, is that you need to share it with the world. I think it's quite telling. I suspect l, that many interesting people are not on social media. They simply have better things to do, than waste their time on Instagram and tiktok.
    - coldtea 5y ago
      >Imagine you're wealthy and beautiful, and the first thing that comes to your mind, is that you need to share it with the world. I think it's quite telling. Not as telling as it seems. We are social animals. It's only natural to want to share it with the world. It would be more shallow to revel in having wealth and/or beauty alone. What people want instead is deeper, is love and recognition from others. That's where hapiness comes from (not some "peace with oneself" etc, that's just a prerequisite), and that's what those people try to get by sharing their wealth and beauty. Many of cause do it crudely, and will be unhappy nonetheless.
- _tom_ 5y ago
  The ones best at appearing beautiful and rich. Google “Instagram reality” for the former and consider https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/style/baller-busters-online-scams.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/style/baller-busters-onli... for the latter.
javajosh 5y ago
>a cruel spectacle of what happens when you throw average people into the ring of elite competiton [sic] Good comment. I'm curious what your take on the use of social media as a means to share outrageous lies and engage in trolling behavior. Is this also an expression of a kind of status? Genuinely asking. I never thought of it that way.
- motohagiography 5y ago
  While I haven't given trolls much thought because people who were on early IRC or Usenet, or predecessors in the BBS/fidonet scene (which pre-dates me) have a natural immunity to trolls. However, perhaps it's because we still think the internet isn't real life, where for an entire young middle class, it in fact is. Nobody expected to live in a future where the bourgoisie and their aspirants live in a zoo of their own making, and that geeks would become their zookeepers. The trolling today looks like a revolt against this game that isn't a game by people who sense there is something wrong but act out within it instead of stepping back. Flinging poop instead of orchestrating an escape, or less dramatically, just putting down the zoo and going for a walk. As long as people can be shocked, there will be people to shock them. In this sense, trolls aren't a problem for social media at all because it needs them to help keep people engaged and disatracted to preserve the illusion that it's meaningful and real.
koboll 5y ago
It's funny, this reminded me immediately of something I've experienced recently. I started making digital paintings on my iPad about a year and a half ago. And I'm not too bad; I've been drawing on and off all my life so I came to it already a decently talented artist. But there are so many artists I follow on Instagram who are so, so much more talented than me, to a degree I will never be. Thousands of them who were better than I am now way back when they were in high school, who have now catapulted beyond where I'll probably ever be and become professional artists with hundreds of thousands of followers who make a living off selling prints and merch. I post my art on Instagram but it feels like throwing mediocre work into a vast sea of bottomless excellence, and there's something fundamentally disheartening about that. However, it's okay, because I've found a little corner of the internet where I'm king. A tiny subreddit for a silly game I play on my phone sometimes. There are other people making fanart for it, too, but only a couple dozen, and in only a year I've become good enough that I'm probably the most talented artist making fanart for it. My posts there get fifty times as many upvotes there as they do Instagram likes, they linger at the top of the (slow-moving) subreddit for days, and people absolutely shower them with compliments. It's tremendously motivating. All I want to do is create fanart for this game. I think everyone can do this. Everyone has some talent, and there are so many diverse, fragmented communities out there that everyone can probably be king of some corner if they like. Social media can be demotivating if you think of it as one vast sea of seven billion people, but it also allows countless tiny niche communities to congregate and thrive. Go find one to conquer.
- bob33212 5y ago
  No one is as good as you are at being you. An optimistic approach to life allows happiness like this. Similar themes in these posts. https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans http://paulgraham.com/re.html http://paulgraham.com/re.html
- Agentlien 5y ago
  I am not an artist but I work with a lot of artists and I'm always amazed at their skills. I used to sit next to a few concept artists and it was a treat watching them work. I remember when two concept artists[0] were excitedly talking about how we'd just hired such an amazing concept artist, their big idol[1]. I looked up his stuff and it was of course astounding. But to be honest they're all just incredible to me. [0] one of them was Oliver Fetscher https://www.artstation.com/oliverfetscher https://www.artstation.com/oliverfetscher [1] https://www.artstation.com/zabrocki https://www.artstation.com/zabrocki
coldtea 5y ago
>I don't think most people can actually afford to lose. I think how you describe the problem is solid, but the situation is the opposite: Most people can totally afford to lose -- because they wont be losing anything that they have anyway. Not winning at being a famous and rich YouTube influencer still leaves you with what you had before (and the same need to hold a job, etc). What they can't really afford is to participate, because competition with all the elite people for things most have 1 in a million chances of ever achieving would just drive them mad.

sixQuarks 5y ago

Well, social media may be fun for those who are the worlds most beautiful and rich

elliekelly 5y ago
Is it though? I’m really not convinced it’s fun even for wealthy and beautiful people.
- tucosan 5y ago
  Imagine you're wealthy and beautiful, and the first thing that comes to your mind, is that you need to share it with the world. I think it's quite telling. I suspect l, that many interesting people are not on social media. They simply have better things to do, than waste their time on Instagram and tiktok.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    >Imagine you're wealthy and beautiful, and the first thing that comes to your mind, is that you need to share it with the world. I think it's quite telling. Not as telling as it seems. We are social animals. It's only natural to want to share it with the world. It would be more shallow to revel in having wealth and/or beauty alone. What people want instead is deeper, is love and recognition from others. That's where hapiness comes from (not some "peace with oneself" etc, that's just a prerequisite), and that's what those people try to get by sharing their wealth and beauty. Many of cause do it crudely, and will be unhappy nonetheless.
_tom_ 5y ago
The ones best at appearing beautiful and rich. Google “Instagram reality” for the former and consider https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/style/baller-busters-online-scams.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/style/baller-busters-onli... for the latter.

javajosh 5y ago

>a cruel spectacle of what happens when you throw average people into the ring of elite competiton [sic] Good comment. I'm curious what your take on the use of social media as a means to share outrageous lies and engage in trolling behavior. Is this also an expression of a kind of status? Genuinely asking. I never thought of it that way.

motohagiography 5y ago
While I haven't given trolls much thought because people who were on early IRC or Usenet, or predecessors in the BBS/fidonet scene (which pre-dates me) have a natural immunity to trolls. However, perhaps it's because we still think the internet isn't real life, where for an entire young middle class, it in fact is. Nobody expected to live in a future where the bourgoisie and their aspirants live in a zoo of their own making, and that geeks would become their zookeepers. The trolling today looks like a revolt against this game that isn't a game by people who sense there is something wrong but act out within it instead of stepping back. Flinging poop instead of orchestrating an escape, or less dramatically, just putting down the zoo and going for a walk. As long as people can be shocked, there will be people to shock them. In this sense, trolls aren't a problem for social media at all because it needs them to help keep people engaged and disatracted to preserve the illusion that it's meaningful and real.

koboll 5y ago

It's funny, this reminded me immediately of something I've experienced recently. I started making digital paintings on my iPad about a year and a half ago. And I'm not too bad; I've been drawing on and off all my life so I came to it already a decently talented artist. But there are so many artists I follow on Instagram who are so, so much more talented than me, to a degree I will never be. Thousands of them who were better than I am now way back when they were in high school, who have now catapulted beyond where I'll probably ever be and become professional artists with hundreds of thousands of followers who make a living off selling prints and merch. I post my art on Instagram but it feels like throwing mediocre work into a vast sea of bottomless excellence, and there's something fundamentally disheartening about that. However, it's okay, because I've found a little corner of the internet where I'm king. A tiny subreddit for a silly game I play on my phone sometimes. There are other people making fanart for it, too, but only a couple dozen, and in only a year I've become good enough that I'm probably the most talented artist making fanart for it. My posts there get fifty times as many upvotes there as they do Instagram likes, they linger at the top of the (slow-moving) subreddit for days, and people absolutely shower them with compliments. It's tremendously motivating. All I want to do is create fanart for this game. I think everyone can do this. Everyone has some talent, and there are so many diverse, fragmented communities out there that everyone can probably be king of some corner if they like. Social media can be demotivating if you think of it as one vast sea of seven billion people, but it also allows countless tiny niche communities to congregate and thrive. Go find one to conquer.

bob33212 5y ago
No one is as good as you are at being you. An optimistic approach to life allows happiness like this. Similar themes in these posts. https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans http://paulgraham.com/re.html http://paulgraham.com/re.html
Agentlien 5y ago
I am not an artist but I work with a lot of artists and I'm always amazed at their skills. I used to sit next to a few concept artists and it was a treat watching them work. I remember when two concept artists[0] were excitedly talking about how we'd just hired such an amazing concept artist, their big idol[1]. I looked up his stuff and it was of course astounding. But to be honest they're all just incredible to me. [0] one of them was Oliver Fetscher https://www.artstation.com/oliverfetscher https://www.artstation.com/oliverfetscher [1] https://www.artstation.com/zabrocki https://www.artstation.com/zabrocki

coldtea 5y ago

>I don't think most people can actually afford to lose. I think how you describe the problem is solid, but the situation is the opposite: Most people can totally afford to lose -- because they wont be losing anything that they have anyway. Not winning at being a famous and rich YouTube influencer still leaves you with what you had before (and the same need to hold a job, etc). What they can't really afford is to participate, because competition with all the elite people for things most have 1 in a million chances of ever achieving would just drive them mad.