10 ms·

The Pornography Paradox

62 points by fortran77 4y ago

mirpetri 4y ago
Looking back at my teens years where I was addicted to porn, I would trade every video & cum for 1 real connection.
- Beaver117 4y ago
  A lot of people would
  - rnk 4y ago
    I think most adults would say the same thing about their own lives, they hunger for deep connections with other people. Covid just made this worse. It's a human desire in our world, and it's not because of naked pics on the internet.
    - Swizec 4y ago
      > they hunger for deep connections with other people We all hunger for deep connections yet we shy away from making the first step. Everyone is tired of shallow, everyone wants depth, nobody wants to start. You may be surprised how well people respond, if you just start. Be the person who takes it deep. If you initiate, most people will be happy to follow and soon you’ll be surrounded by deep connections. Same as when you’re alone at a party. If you initiate, most people will be happy to chat and soon you’ll be surrounded by friends. PS: while this is simple, it is not easy … but really, reach out to some people and take them out for a <beverage>. You may be surprised how many will jump at the chance edit: it is important to note that raw time spent together is the fastest way to a deep connection. You can’t hack this. You need actual real time. Even if you never talk about anything particularly deep, the connection becomes deep by sheer virtue of spending regular time together. edit2: relationship building takes years, not minutes. You cannot hack this process. But it does help to take the risk first.
      - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
        Nobody wants to start because of how easy it is to be taken advantage of, and we live in a world that favors the predators. We watch trust get taken advantage of every day. > You may be surprised how well people respond, if you just start. Be the person who takes it deep. If you initiate, most people will be happy to follow and soon you’ll be surrounded by deep connections. My experience is different. They either only want shallow and brief connection (which I can't really blame them for given the above), or the only kind of trust relationship they want is the one where you trust them and they can take advantage of you, or sell you something, or push some ideology on you. Actual connection with people who just want to be human is exceptionally rare from what I can tell.
        Swizec 4y ago
        Don’t give off predatory vibes and remember that nobody will trust a total stranger. It takes time. I’m talking about things you can develop over years, not minutes.
        olyjohn 4y ago
        What the hell does "don't give off predatory vibes" mean?
      - expertentipp 4y ago
        Sorry but reality is not screenplay of "Legally Blonde". When living in Berlin I encountered numerous times the attitude "I already have friends and don't need new ones, why should I even talk to you?". People are proud from their attitude of hating "small talk" and being outright assholes. Few times I pulled some girl to dance classes and she said afterwards something along the lines "I'm going to the Moon and we'll meet again once I come back", hypergamy is brutal. What's left? Porn.
        Swizec 4y ago
        Yes it doesn’t always work. And it’s easier with people you already have some connection with than total strangers. But if it works 10% of the time and you try 10 times, you’ll have 1 new friend. That’s great! How many do you really need?
  - raydev 4y ago
    This presumes that porn addiction was/is common.
- lr4444lr 4y ago
  What's a "connection"? I'd assume prostitution wouldn't count.
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  [flagged]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- shrimp_emoji 4y ago
  But isn't the porn to gratify your desire for sex? Desire for sex is a horribly hollow foundation for a relationship. To onboard the tremendous time, attention, work, and emotional stability that a good relationship demands, or that a bad relationship totally incinerates to nobody's benefit, while coming from a place of "I wanna get my dick wet" or "my sadness would be fixed if only I conjoined my life with another human being" sounds disastrous.
  - antibasilisk 4y ago
    Desiring sex is literally the foundation for all sexual relationships. Otherwise there's not much difference to hanging out with your bros.
    - majikaja 4y ago
      If that were the foundation of my marriage I would have thrown out my wife to get a newer model years ago.
      - glouwbug 4y ago
        [flagged]
- falcolas 4y ago
  [dead]
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  [dead]
laristine 4y ago
https://archive.is/taesN https://archive.is/taesN
andrewclunn 4y ago
[flagged]
- gedy 4y ago
  > it's just the second in a series of three transformative technologies I'm thinking that sex bots/devices, maybe linked with VR will be another huge disruption
  - andrewclunn 4y ago
    Fair, but I see that as just an evolution of porn, in the same way that daily pills, hormonal inserts, and the morning after pill are separate technologies, but ultimately all means of "birth control."
    - gedy 4y ago
      True, that's more an endgame scenario for porn.
- prh8 4y ago
  Modern women want emotionally intelligent and kind men and are then stereotyped, blamed, and gaslit when they don't accept immature and manipulative men instead.
  - sublinear 4y ago
    Emotionally intelligent and kind men also want emotionally intelligent and kind women. I don't want to say much more beyond this, but I don't think that ideal is the standard behavior for either sex. The common person wants someone better than them and they're not entitled to it.
    - fauxpause_ 4y ago
      [flagged]
freedude 4y ago
[flagged]
- Fauntleroy 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - Joker_vD 4y ago
    The one of (one of the) Orthodox church(es), of course. It's in the name!
- meepmorp 4y ago
  [flagged]
scythe 4y ago
>the dopamine system If I had a nickel for every time someone made a reference to neurotransmitters as an unscientific rhetorical bludgeon, I could probably buy a house in Stinson Beach. There is no "dopamine system", certainly no more than there is an "enkephalin system" or a "glycine system". The age of psychotropic drugs has produced a new generation of pseudoneuroscience, which depicts a brain whose behavior can always be explained in terms of a few neurotransmitters — the four humours for scholars in the academy of YouTube. Let it be known that the mind deals with information first, and no levels of N-acetylaspartate or 2-arachidonylglycerol, however finely tuned, can teach you how to do calculus or drive a car, or, for that matter, how to have sex. Neurotransmitters, particularly famous neurotransmitters, should only be invoked when there is physical evidence, and the pop-culture equivocation between dopamine release and pleasure itself certainly does not qualify.
- biosboiii 4y ago
  If you could elaborate on the topic it would be really great, I know so many people who blame everything in their life, most of all their lack of discipline with, oohhhhh my brain needs dopamine, i just need that doppaamine, and serotonin, you can increase it by bla bla talking about the brain like it is an engine that runs on oil gas, sparks and timing. Last time I checked we knew next to nothing about how our brains really work in depth.
  - notamy 4y ago
    > If you could elaborate on the topic it would be really great, I know so many people who blame everything in their life, most of all their lack of discipline with, oohhhhh my brain needs dopamine, i just need that doppaamine, and serotonin, you can increase it by bla bla talking about the brain like it is an engine that runs on oil gas, sparks and timing. aiui (someone who knows more please correct me if I'm wrong): It's not as simple as "my brain lacks serotonin -> I am depressed" or similar, because neurotransmitters are just that -- something that moves some message around the body. ~90% of bodily serotonin is used in the GI system, ~8% in platelets, and the rest in the CNS[0]. Since it's one of the primary neurotransmitters, it affects an enormous number of systems in the body: Memory, learning, anxiety, pain, depression, vision (and hallucinations; psychedelics bind to serotonin-2A), vasoconstriction, bone mass, heart function, vomiting, food moving through the GI system, and a LOT of other functions[1]. It's why psychoactive drugs work with such broad effects: - Cannabis has memory-altering effects because of indirect action on serotonin receptors via the cannabinoid receptors[2] - Psychedelics bind to serotonin-2A to produce the primary effects - MDMA binds to the serotonin transporter (among other things) as a reuptake inhibitor, and also causes the brain to release serotonin. MDMA also indirectly stimulates a lot of receptors[3], so it's not as simple as "MDMA -> serotonin release / reuptake inhibition -> happy :D" or similar. There's also some fairly recent research[4] that the serotonin model of depression might be wrong: > The main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations. Some evidence was consistent with the possibility that long-term antidepressant use reduces serotonin concentration. Many antidepressants also act on receptors other than serotonin receptors, ex. Bupropion[6] is a norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor and doesn't touch serotonin at all. This isn't to say that serotonin activity plays no role in depression etc., but rather that it's a part of a very complicated picture. --- I imagine that the "confusion" around the topic is caused by something like: - Researchers in the 50-60s[5] think serotonin might have smth to do with depression - Medications that affect serotonin seem to work, so we go with it - We get to more-modern times, where the internet is fairly commonplace - People are prescribed SSRIs or similar for depression - People are told SSRIs increase levels of serotonin in the brain - This gets turned into "depression caused by low serotonin" - We are here [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Serotonylation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Serotonylation See table below heading [2] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002194 https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA#Receptor_binding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA#Receptor_binding [4] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 [5] https://www.menningerclinic.org/news-resources/serotonin-theory-of-depression-a-look-at-its-complicated-history https://www.menningerclinic.org/news-resources/serotonin-the... Please note I am only using this as a date reference [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion#Pharmacology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion#Pharmacology
RC_ITR 4y ago
One interesting thing I don’t see enough people talking about is the decline in early-life sexual activity that goes along with this [0]. It appears somewhat caused by the fact that the “do it yourself experience” used to be a very inferior product, which drove people to find a partner, even if it meant significant compromise. Now, you’re one search away from stimulation that might actually make it better than what’s available to you in your local community. What may be shocking to some people is that this phenomenon applies to people of any gender, and is likely a contributing factor to the “incel” phenomenon (some of the more awkward among us used to benefit by being “the best available local option” so to speak). But ofc no-one wants to talk about it because it’s a bit gross to do so. [0] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sexual-intelligence/202208/why-todays-teens-are-having-so-much-less-sex?amp https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sexual-intelligence/...
- leroy-is-here 4y ago
  The ancient Greeks held sight itself as holy. We have now showed other people’s experiences and have become addicted to them. The vision is so strong, people can manage to somehow live inside these addictions.
- commandlinefan 4y ago
  > the decline in early-life sexual activity But hasn't that been an explicit policy goal of every government since at least 1950? Reducing teen sexual activity and especially teen pregnancy? According to elected officials, this is not just a good thing, this is the target.
  - bloqs 4y ago
    Western European and East Asian developed economies share their largest economic problem going forwards: declining birth rates. I'm not convinced the policy goals of reducing teen birth rates has ever been that much of an actual policy goal, despite what election manifestos might proclaim
    - wkat4242 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
thowaway438993 4y ago
A lot of people forget the time spent on porn, when analyzing whether it's a good thing or bad thing. I really believe that if you don't spend too much time per session you'll be fine. PornHub stats show the avg time spent to be 15 mins, around that time is a good goal (don't mindlessly edge for too long). Then with the stats on prostate health showing benefits, it's only a good thing.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  Why is it bad when you spend longer than 15 minutes? Just like real sex it's better if you don't hurry it :)
  - antibasilisk 4y ago
    Real sex usually brings some sort of human connection
    - wkat4242 4y ago
      True but it doesn't explain the point why it would be bad to spend more than 15 minutes watching porn when real sex is not available.
      - antibasilisk 4y ago
        If you didn't have porn you would have greater incentive to pursue a sexual relationship
        wkat4242 4y ago
        I doubt that. A state of sexual frustration and depression is not exactly a good mindset for finding a long term partner. It's better to get it out of the way. It would lead mainly to quick tinder style hookups which I don't like. For me the emotional connection comes first.
        4y ago
thriftwy 4y ago
The only thing which thoroughly resonated with me was the prevalence of incest/cuckold themes in modern porn. Come on, somebody is trying to jerk off here without all of that off-putting bullshit, which only manifests in text description anyway. The only thing worse than that is web site being overrun by visitors from India, having all tops occupied by the videos of "bhabi"s.
hashberry 4y ago
My name is hashberry, and I am a porn addict. Do not follow my path into the erotic abyss, especially with a chemsex stack of stimulants + cannabis + alcohol. I recently discovered Stable Diffusion. I've always loved photos of beautiful women, but now porn is 100% customizable. Every fantasy can now have a realistic lifelike visual, even of people you know. This article subheading reads: "Reformers fear that ever more outré sites are warping users’ desires. But transgression has always been part of the appeal." Ah, yes, "transgression." In this erotic hell, you'll find your mothers, your daughters, you sisters. You'll find "futa" transsexuals, bukkake cumshots, and rape-like scenes. This nonstop pornography has no limit because degeneracy has no limit.
- shrimp_emoji 4y ago
  [flagged]
- LoganDark 4y ago
  > now porn is 100% customizable Not even close, ime. Only human stuff is mostly customizable now. Almost anything else is not very customizable at all + even human stuff is not quite 100% customizable...
  - barking_biscuit 4y ago
    It depends on how good you are with Stable Diffusion to a degree. Just raw SD 1.5 gives you somewhat terrible results, but starting with certain models on civit.ai as a base, using the right settings + prompts to boost quality and effectively leveraging the dynamic prompts extension and/or dreambooth and you can pretty much do anything you want. At the moment it's all still so technical that it's only the early adopters that are deep into the fantasy porn territory that Stable Diffusion allows for, but at some point that too will have it's "ChatGPT" moment where a significant UX improvement makes it much more widely accessible. It's entirely conceivable to me that in the near future a single person could build and operate the next Pornhub with zero human labor involved. Edit: my hot take on the "AGI will kill us all" debate is that it would have absolutely zero reason to bother with any active plan to kill humanity when it can extrapolate that our declining birth rate eventually sends the population to zero over the long-term and it can simply accelerate the decline by making better and better porn / simulacra pushing the birth rate ever lower.
jwie 4y ago
Porn is a hyper reality. It’s obscene, but more it’s really just produced a lot. Normal sex resembles porn about as much as a show about high school resembles high school. There are some specific harms of pornography, but it shares a lot of dimensions with commercials, marketing, and other media. The entomology of the word porn even indicates this. It means “to sell off” eventually meaning prostitution, which is a sales activity primarily. Digital porn scales well, though this isn’t good for most. We’d be in a better world with non-scalable sex work instead. It’s more ordered and aligned with the human experience. The digital whores are not human, and you can’t have sex with them, which is the whole draw no?
- expertentipp 4y ago
  If you find a partner attracted to you, sex can absolutely be alike in porn and free of charge. If in the hypergamy hierarchy you're an equivalent of rat or homeless dog, bad luck.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - rambojohnson 4y ago
    even the sex in porn is nothing that resembles reality. and if you're male, and she's being nice and fulfilling that porno fantasy, trust me she's not into it and it won't be long before sex no longer happens as often once she gets comfortable with you.
  - ravenstine 4y ago
    Seems your comment is getting some disagreement, perhaps because of your follow-up statement. I happen to agree with you, broadly speaking. Everyone's experiences and preferences vary, so I'd wager that most people don't experience that kind of sex. If one isn't a total schlub, however, it's not out of the realm of possibility. The idea that people can't have the kind of sex they like reminds me of the idea that women don't like sex that much, which is far from the truth. But maybe I've just gotten lucky (no pun intended).
  - 4y ago
b1c1jones 4y ago
Objectification is dehumanizing.
spansoa 4y ago
Internet porn has always been the boogeyman du jour, apparently made to corrupt young minds and commodify sex, but as the old meme goes: The Internet was made for porn[0]. It's a stark reminder that we're sexual creatures and the vast bulk of Internet traffic is essentially pictures and movies of people having sex with each other. [0] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-internet-is-for-porn https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-internet-is-for-porn
lecozi 4y ago
[flagged]

62 points by fortran77 4y ago

mirpetri 4y ago

Looking back at my teens years where I was addicted to porn, I would trade every video & cum for 1 real connection.

Beaver117 4y ago
A lot of people would
- rnk 4y ago
  I think most adults would say the same thing about their own lives, they hunger for deep connections with other people. Covid just made this worse. It's a human desire in our world, and it's not because of naked pics on the internet.
  - Swizec 4y ago
    > they hunger for deep connections with other people We all hunger for deep connections yet we shy away from making the first step. Everyone is tired of shallow, everyone wants depth, nobody wants to start. You may be surprised how well people respond, if you just start. Be the person who takes it deep. If you initiate, most people will be happy to follow and soon you’ll be surrounded by deep connections. Same as when you’re alone at a party. If you initiate, most people will be happy to chat and soon you’ll be surrounded by friends. PS: while this is simple, it is not easy … but really, reach out to some people and take them out for a <beverage>. You may be surprised how many will jump at the chance edit: it is important to note that raw time spent together is the fastest way to a deep connection. You can’t hack this. You need actual real time. Even if you never talk about anything particularly deep, the connection becomes deep by sheer virtue of spending regular time together. edit2: relationship building takes years, not minutes. You cannot hack this process. But it does help to take the risk first.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
      Nobody wants to start because of how easy it is to be taken advantage of, and we live in a world that favors the predators. We watch trust get taken advantage of every day. > You may be surprised how well people respond, if you just start. Be the person who takes it deep. If you initiate, most people will be happy to follow and soon you’ll be surrounded by deep connections. My experience is different. They either only want shallow and brief connection (which I can't really blame them for given the above), or the only kind of trust relationship they want is the one where you trust them and they can take advantage of you, or sell you something, or push some ideology on you. Actual connection with people who just want to be human is exceptionally rare from what I can tell.
      - Swizec 4y ago
        Don’t give off predatory vibes and remember that nobody will trust a total stranger. It takes time. I’m talking about things you can develop over years, not minutes.
        olyjohn 4y ago
        What the hell does "don't give off predatory vibes" mean?
    - expertentipp 4y ago
      Sorry but reality is not screenplay of "Legally Blonde". When living in Berlin I encountered numerous times the attitude "I already have friends and don't need new ones, why should I even talk to you?". People are proud from their attitude of hating "small talk" and being outright assholes. Few times I pulled some girl to dance classes and she said afterwards something along the lines "I'm going to the Moon and we'll meet again once I come back", hypergamy is brutal. What's left? Porn.
      - Swizec 4y ago
        Yes it doesn’t always work. And it’s easier with people you already have some connection with than total strangers. But if it works 10% of the time and you try 10 times, you’ll have 1 new friend. That’s great! How many do you really need?
- raydev 4y ago
  This presumes that porn addiction was/is common.
lr4444lr 4y ago
What's a "connection"? I'd assume prostitution wouldn't count.
TechBro8615 4y ago
[flagged]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
shrimp_emoji 4y ago
But isn't the porn to gratify your desire for sex? Desire for sex is a horribly hollow foundation for a relationship. To onboard the tremendous time, attention, work, and emotional stability that a good relationship demands, or that a bad relationship totally incinerates to nobody's benefit, while coming from a place of "I wanna get my dick wet" or "my sadness would be fixed if only I conjoined my life with another human being" sounds disastrous.
- antibasilisk 4y ago
  Desiring sex is literally the foundation for all sexual relationships. Otherwise there's not much difference to hanging out with your bros.
  - majikaja 4y ago
    If that were the foundation of my marriage I would have thrown out my wife to get a newer model years ago.
    - glouwbug 4y ago
      [flagged]
falcolas 4y ago
[dead]
LorenPechtel 4y ago
[dead]

laristine 4y ago

https://archive.is/taesN https://archive.is/taesN

andrewclunn 4y ago

[flagged]

gedy 4y ago
> it's just the second in a series of three transformative technologies I'm thinking that sex bots/devices, maybe linked with VR will be another huge disruption
- andrewclunn 4y ago
  Fair, but I see that as just an evolution of porn, in the same way that daily pills, hormonal inserts, and the morning after pill are separate technologies, but ultimately all means of "birth control."
  - gedy 4y ago
    True, that's more an endgame scenario for porn.
prh8 4y ago
Modern women want emotionally intelligent and kind men and are then stereotyped, blamed, and gaslit when they don't accept immature and manipulative men instead.
- sublinear 4y ago
  Emotionally intelligent and kind men also want emotionally intelligent and kind women. I don't want to say much more beyond this, but I don't think that ideal is the standard behavior for either sex. The common person wants someone better than them and they're not entitled to it.
  - fauxpause_ 4y ago
    [flagged]

freedude 4y ago

[flagged]

Fauntleroy 4y ago
[flagged]
- Joker_vD 4y ago
  The one of (one of the) Orthodox church(es), of course. It's in the name!
meepmorp 4y ago
[flagged]

scythe 4y ago

>the dopamine system If I had a nickel for every time someone made a reference to neurotransmitters as an unscientific rhetorical bludgeon, I could probably buy a house in Stinson Beach. There is no "dopamine system", certainly no more than there is an "enkephalin system" or a "glycine system". The age of psychotropic drugs has produced a new generation of pseudoneuroscience, which depicts a brain whose behavior can always be explained in terms of a few neurotransmitters — the four humours for scholars in the academy of YouTube. Let it be known that the mind deals with information first, and no levels of N-acetylaspartate or 2-arachidonylglycerol, however finely tuned, can teach you how to do calculus or drive a car, or, for that matter, how to have sex. Neurotransmitters, particularly famous neurotransmitters, should only be invoked when there is physical evidence, and the pop-culture equivocation between dopamine release and pleasure itself certainly does not qualify.

biosboiii 4y ago
If you could elaborate on the topic it would be really great, I know so many people who blame everything in their life, most of all their lack of discipline with, oohhhhh my brain needs dopamine, i just need that doppaamine, and serotonin, you can increase it by bla bla talking about the brain like it is an engine that runs on oil gas, sparks and timing. Last time I checked we knew next to nothing about how our brains really work in depth.
- notamy 4y ago
  > If you could elaborate on the topic it would be really great, I know so many people who blame everything in their life, most of all their lack of discipline with, oohhhhh my brain needs dopamine, i just need that doppaamine, and serotonin, you can increase it by bla bla talking about the brain like it is an engine that runs on oil gas, sparks and timing. aiui (someone who knows more please correct me if I'm wrong): It's not as simple as "my brain lacks serotonin -> I am depressed" or similar, because neurotransmitters are just that -- something that moves some message around the body. ~90% of bodily serotonin is used in the GI system, ~8% in platelets, and the rest in the CNS[0]. Since it's one of the primary neurotransmitters, it affects an enormous number of systems in the body: Memory, learning, anxiety, pain, depression, vision (and hallucinations; psychedelics bind to serotonin-2A), vasoconstriction, bone mass, heart function, vomiting, food moving through the GI system, and a LOT of other functions[1]. It's why psychoactive drugs work with such broad effects: - Cannabis has memory-altering effects because of indirect action on serotonin receptors via the cannabinoid receptors[2] - Psychedelics bind to serotonin-2A to produce the primary effects - MDMA binds to the serotonin transporter (among other things) as a reuptake inhibitor, and also causes the brain to release serotonin. MDMA also indirectly stimulates a lot of receptors[3], so it's not as simple as "MDMA -> serotonin release / reuptake inhibition -> happy :D" or similar. There's also some fairly recent research[4] that the serotonin model of depression might be wrong: > The main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations. Some evidence was consistent with the possibility that long-term antidepressant use reduces serotonin concentration. Many antidepressants also act on receptors other than serotonin receptors, ex. Bupropion[6] is a norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor and doesn't touch serotonin at all. This isn't to say that serotonin activity plays no role in depression etc., but rather that it's a part of a very complicated picture. --- I imagine that the "confusion" around the topic is caused by something like: - Researchers in the 50-60s[5] think serotonin might have smth to do with depression - Medications that affect serotonin seem to work, so we go with it - We get to more-modern times, where the internet is fairly commonplace - People are prescribed SSRIs or similar for depression - People are told SSRIs increase levels of serotonin in the brain - This gets turned into "depression caused by low serotonin" - We are here [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Serotonylation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin#Serotonylation See table below heading [2] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002194 https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA#Receptor_binding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA#Receptor_binding [4] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 [5] https://www.menningerclinic.org/news-resources/serotonin-theory-of-depression-a-look-at-its-complicated-history https://www.menningerclinic.org/news-resources/serotonin-the... Please note I am only using this as a date reference [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion#Pharmacology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion#Pharmacology

RC_ITR 4y ago

One interesting thing I don’t see enough people talking about is the decline in early-life sexual activity that goes along with this [0]. It appears somewhat caused by the fact that the “do it yourself experience” used to be a very inferior product, which drove people to find a partner, even if it meant significant compromise. Now, you’re one search away from stimulation that might actually make it better than what’s available to you in your local community. What may be shocking to some people is that this phenomenon applies to people of any gender, and is likely a contributing factor to the “incel” phenomenon (some of the more awkward among us used to benefit by being “the best available local option” so to speak). But ofc no-one wants to talk about it because it’s a bit gross to do so. [0] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sexual-intelligence/202208/why-todays-teens-are-having-so-much-less-sex?amp https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sexual-intelligence/...

leroy-is-here 4y ago
The ancient Greeks held sight itself as holy. We have now showed other people’s experiences and have become addicted to them. The vision is so strong, people can manage to somehow live inside these addictions.
commandlinefan 4y ago
> the decline in early-life sexual activity But hasn't that been an explicit policy goal of every government since at least 1950? Reducing teen sexual activity and especially teen pregnancy? According to elected officials, this is not just a good thing, this is the target.
- bloqs 4y ago
  Western European and East Asian developed economies share their largest economic problem going forwards: declining birth rates. I'm not convinced the policy goals of reducing teen birth rates has ever been that much of an actual policy goal, despite what election manifestos might proclaim
  - wkat4242 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

thowaway438993 4y ago

A lot of people forget the time spent on porn, when analyzing whether it's a good thing or bad thing. I really believe that if you don't spend too much time per session you'll be fine. PornHub stats show the avg time spent to be 15 mins, around that time is a good goal (don't mindlessly edge for too long). Then with the stats on prostate health showing benefits, it's only a good thing.

wkat4242 4y ago
Why is it bad when you spend longer than 15 minutes? Just like real sex it's better if you don't hurry it :)
- antibasilisk 4y ago
  Real sex usually brings some sort of human connection
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    True but it doesn't explain the point why it would be bad to spend more than 15 minutes watching porn when real sex is not available.
    - antibasilisk 4y ago
      If you didn't have porn you would have greater incentive to pursue a sexual relationship
      - wkat4242 4y ago
        I doubt that. A state of sexual frustration and depression is not exactly a good mindset for finding a long term partner. It's better to get it out of the way. It would lead mainly to quick tinder style hookups which I don't like. For me the emotional connection comes first.
        4y ago

thriftwy 4y ago

The only thing which thoroughly resonated with me was the prevalence of incest/cuckold themes in modern porn. Come on, somebody is trying to jerk off here without all of that off-putting bullshit, which only manifests in text description anyway. The only thing worse than that is web site being overrun by visitors from India, having all tops occupied by the videos of "bhabi"s.

hashberry 4y ago

My name is hashberry, and I am a porn addict. Do not follow my path into the erotic abyss, especially with a chemsex stack of stimulants + cannabis + alcohol. I recently discovered Stable Diffusion. I've always loved photos of beautiful women, but now porn is 100% customizable. Every fantasy can now have a realistic lifelike visual, even of people you know. This article subheading reads: "Reformers fear that ever more outré sites are warping users’ desires. But transgression has always been part of the appeal." Ah, yes, "transgression." In this erotic hell, you'll find your mothers, your daughters, you sisters. You'll find "futa" transsexuals, bukkake cumshots, and rape-like scenes. This nonstop pornography has no limit because degeneracy has no limit.

shrimp_emoji 4y ago
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LoganDark 4y ago
> now porn is 100% customizable Not even close, ime. Only human stuff is mostly customizable now. Almost anything else is not very customizable at all + even human stuff is not quite 100% customizable...
- barking_biscuit 4y ago
  It depends on how good you are with Stable Diffusion to a degree. Just raw SD 1.5 gives you somewhat terrible results, but starting with certain models on civit.ai as a base, using the right settings + prompts to boost quality and effectively leveraging the dynamic prompts extension and/or dreambooth and you can pretty much do anything you want. At the moment it's all still so technical that it's only the early adopters that are deep into the fantasy porn territory that Stable Diffusion allows for, but at some point that too will have it's "ChatGPT" moment where a significant UX improvement makes it much more widely accessible. It's entirely conceivable to me that in the near future a single person could build and operate the next Pornhub with zero human labor involved. Edit: my hot take on the "AGI will kill us all" debate is that it would have absolutely zero reason to bother with any active plan to kill humanity when it can extrapolate that our declining birth rate eventually sends the population to zero over the long-term and it can simply accelerate the decline by making better and better porn / simulacra pushing the birth rate ever lower.

jwie 4y ago

Porn is a hyper reality. It’s obscene, but more it’s really just produced a lot. Normal sex resembles porn about as much as a show about high school resembles high school. There are some specific harms of pornography, but it shares a lot of dimensions with commercials, marketing, and other media. The entomology of the word porn even indicates this. It means “to sell off” eventually meaning prostitution, which is a sales activity primarily. Digital porn scales well, though this isn’t good for most. We’d be in a better world with non-scalable sex work instead. It’s more ordered and aligned with the human experience. The digital whores are not human, and you can’t have sex with them, which is the whole draw no?

expertentipp 4y ago
If you find a partner attracted to you, sex can absolutely be alike in porn and free of charge. If in the hypergamy hierarchy you're an equivalent of rat or homeless dog, bad luck.
- deleted 4y ago
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- rambojohnson 4y ago
  even the sex in porn is nothing that resembles reality. and if you're male, and she's being nice and fulfilling that porno fantasy, trust me she's not into it and it won't be long before sex no longer happens as often once she gets comfortable with you.
- ravenstine 4y ago
  Seems your comment is getting some disagreement, perhaps because of your follow-up statement. I happen to agree with you, broadly speaking. Everyone's experiences and preferences vary, so I'd wager that most people don't experience that kind of sex. If one isn't a total schlub, however, it's not out of the realm of possibility. The idea that people can't have the kind of sex they like reminds me of the idea that women don't like sex that much, which is far from the truth. But maybe I've just gotten lucky (no pun intended).
- 4y ago

b1c1jones 4y ago

Objectification is dehumanizing.

spansoa 4y ago

Internet porn has always been the boogeyman du jour, apparently made to corrupt young minds and commodify sex, but as the old meme goes: The Internet was made for porn[0]. It's a stark reminder that we're sexual creatures and the vast bulk of Internet traffic is essentially pictures and movies of people having sex with each other. [0] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-internet-is-for-porn https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-internet-is-for-porn

lecozi 4y ago

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