4 ms·
On Twitter I get to see interactions between the people that built games I played as a kid, famous actors, Nobel prize winners, heads of state, and authors I ha
by khafra 2y ago
On Twitter I get to see interactions between the people that built games I played as a kid, famous actors, Nobel prize winners, heads of state, and authors I had assumed died decades ago. If I write something insightful and relevant enough, I might get a gesture of appreciation from a FAANG research director, a prominent philosopher, or just someone who writes the funniest aphorisms I've ever seen.
It's toxic in some ways; sure--but it's easy to care about.
- dingnuts 2y agosounds like an interactive tabloid. who gives a shit about famous people? authors I assumed died decades ago? Literally I do not give a single shit what Stephen King or JK Rowling thinks have fun with that, but you just explained why it never appealed to me. Weird idolatry. Reddit has the same problem. Interesting people talk about ideas, not other people > something insightful enough you mean if you play the game and are sufficiently blessed by the algorithm your demigod may offer you a blessing. The algorithm doesn't reward insight, lol.
- madeofpalk 2y agoNo one is making you care what Stephen King has to say. You don't need to idolise someone just to be interested in things they might say You're here in the comments of Hacker News so you clearly are interested in social networks. You reguarly check in here to see popular links others have shared, and occasionally participate in conversations. It's seems pretty easy to understand that others might be interested in a slightly different UI on top of this.
- khafra 2y ago> who gives a shit about famous people? authors I assumed died decades ago? Literally I do not give a single shit what Stephen King or JK Rowling thinks I meant, like, Joyce Carol Oates; who I had mentally placed in the same "historic personage" category as Sylvia Plath and Angela Carter before learning she had a twitter account. And, yeah, it's somewhat toxic to engage in idolatry; yeah, I would more profitably spend my time trying to become a research director or founder myself. Having John Carmack like my Arxiv recommendation isn't an achievement, the way inventing the fast inverse square root algorithm is. But it sure does feel nice!
- stronglikedan 2y ago> who gives a shit about famous people? Lots of people. That's why they're famous. You may not, but many do, and that's okay.
- epolanski 2y agoI can see your point, the issue is that those rare insightful interactions are buried under tons of scrolling, irrelevant content, and people desperately trying to get noticed for whatever reason.
- bumby 2y agoI have felt that pull myself, but can't help that even the "gesture of appreciation" is a somewhat hollow and superficial feeling of status. From that standpoint, I don't know that it's all that good of a signal to chase especially given the larger context of the limitations of Twitter.
- khafra 2y agoAgreed--twitter interactions with famous people are absolutely a superstimulus in the same way ice cream or Factorio are; unless you're following some kind of rigorous strategy to promote a product or service. But, indulging (in moderation) in ice cream or Factorio is one of the great things about living in the modern era. Just don't let it rewire your dopamine receptors too far to enjoy the real stuff!
- greentxt 2y agoUsenet was better in every way. We could go back, with little friction, and everything would be better. Oh, but you can't sell ads.