2 ms·

You lump a lot of things into this bucket. I am curious what you consider as not a brainrot?

Spivak 2y ago
I mean I came up with the list by going through the kinds of mindless passive entertainment that has little to no to negative intellectual or artistic value that either I or my coworkers (who are mostly Dads hence Vince Flynn) enjoy that I think intersects with HN types. It's easy to call out the kinds of low-value activities that you don't personally enjoy or partake in. It's a lot harder and more uncomfortable to see them in yourself and have some empathy and not judge others too much for their brain-off vices. Only when I die and see the big stats board do I want to know how many hours I've wasted on Slay the Spire. And while I love it dearly I can't really delude myself that it's anything other than Candy Crush for nerds.
- Kelteseth 2y ago
  You do know that there exist more games than just candy crush? There are many games that I personally would order in the same magnitude of culture importance than musical symphonies. Portal 2, World of Warcraft, The last of us, Breath of the wild, just to name a few.
  - Spivak 2y ago
    It's always video games that strikes a nerve with people on the internet. Yes I've played and beaten all the games you've mentioned. Sure artistic video genres exist just like artistic porn exists but we're not meaningfully engaging with the activity as it really exists by pretending that's what I'll find if I go to xvideos. I've sunk 16k+ hours into WoW in my lifetime, you named perhaps the most brainrot game that has ever existed in the history of video games. It's makes Tiktok look like long form essays, doing meth instead would be considered harm reduction. It's easy to identify when the activity is low status to your in-group. The Big Bang Theory has significant cultural importance but I bet you'd agree it's still brainrot.
- gambiting 2y ago
  >> by going through the kinds of mindless passive entertainment that has little to no to negative intellectual or artistic value Why are video games on that list then?

I mean I came up with the list by going through the kinds of mindless passive entertainment that has little to no to negative intellectual or artistic value that either I or my coworkers (who are mostly Dads hence Vince Flynn) enjoy that I think intersects with HN types. It's easy to call out the kinds of low-value activities that you don't personally enjoy or partake in. It's a lot harder and more uncomfortable to see them in yourself and have some empathy and not judge others too much for their brain-off vices. Only when I die and see the big stats board do I want to know how many hours I've wasted on Slay the Spire. And while I love it dearly I can't really delude myself that it's anything other than Candy Crush for nerds.

Kelteseth 2y ago
You do know that there exist more games than just candy crush? There are many games that I personally would order in the same magnitude of culture importance than musical symphonies. Portal 2, World of Warcraft, The last of us, Breath of the wild, just to name a few.
- Spivak 2y ago
  It's always video games that strikes a nerve with people on the internet. Yes I've played and beaten all the games you've mentioned. Sure artistic video genres exist just like artistic porn exists but we're not meaningfully engaging with the activity as it really exists by pretending that's what I'll find if I go to xvideos. I've sunk 16k+ hours into WoW in my lifetime, you named perhaps the most brainrot game that has ever existed in the history of video games. It's makes Tiktok look like long form essays, doing meth instead would be considered harm reduction. It's easy to identify when the activity is low status to your in-group. The Big Bang Theory has significant cultural importance but I bet you'd agree it's still brainrot.
gambiting 2y ago
>> by going through the kinds of mindless passive entertainment that has little to no to negative intellectual or artistic value Why are video games on that list then?