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I can see why people might want it to come back, but I don't think bringing it back will bring back the good old days. Much of that was made the early web less

I can see why people might want it to come back, but I don't think bringing it back will bring back the good old days. Much of that was made the early web less shit was people being more mentally stable by having most of their social interactions happen for real offline, rather than clinging like Harlow's monkey to a simulacrum of togetherness mediated via a screen like we do today.

nelsonic 2mo ago
I was curious too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Harlow#Monkey_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Harlow#Monkey_studies
- delis-thumbs-7e 2mo ago
  Content warning: One will be extremely sad and dissapointed at humanity.
  - estearum 2mo ago
    Man yeah... that's some heartbreaking stuff. I was (oddly) relieved to see that these horrible experiments actually did lead to improvements in how humans raised their young. > Physical contact with infants was considered harmful to their development, and this view led to sterile, contact-less nurseries across the country. A view which these experiments apparently contested, and now is probably widely regarded as abhorrent. Poor monkeys though.
    - appplication 2mo ago
      I was amazed reading this: > Critics of Harlow's research have observed that clinging is a matter of survival in young rhesus monkeys, but not in humans, and have suggested that his conclusions, when applied to humans, overestimate the importance of contact comfort and underestimate the importance of nursing. I don’t know how one (especially anyone who has raised a child) could think contact is less important in humans or that this doesn’t generalize.
      - kunai 2mo ago
        > I don’t know how one (especially anyone who has raised a child) could think contact is less important in humans or that this doesn’t generalize. Look around this forum, and all of the rampant fealty and worship towards LLMs and the mythical blood sacrifices made to the vaporware AGI god, or asociable people bragging about how Claude is a better friend, co-worker, and (rare but I've seen it) romantic partner than actual human beings. Plenty of people out there, more than we're willing to admit, are callous, unfeeling, unempathetic, and uncaring. They may not rise to the level of outright sociopathy or psychopathy, but they generally do not regard emotions highly, negative or positive. This archetype is overrepresented in academia and science, so make of that what you will.
        marginalia_nu 2mo ago
        > Plenty of people out there, more than we're willing to admit, are callous, unfeeling, unempathetic, and uncaring. They may not rise to the level of outright sociopathy or psychopathy, but they generally do not regard emotions highly, negative or positive. This archetype is overrepresented in academia and science, so make of that what you will. FWIW in tech I think this is often poor emotional awareness and lacking emotional vocabulary than callousness and a lack of emotions in themselves. Kind of state you end up in if you spend too much time with computers and books and not enough learning the nuances of social life as a kid. Though with Harlow I don't know. Gives me a vibe he could have been a season of Mindhunter if he'd made a few different life choices.
TFNA 2mo ago
MySpace was notorious for people with social problems who weren't getting out much. Bedroom musicians were able to share tunes and get buzz that they wouldn't have been able to achieve before, since they couldn't manage the in-real-life socialization needed for self-promotion.
- beezlewax 2mo ago
  That whole emo scene seemed to eminate from MySpace. It was great for budding musicians of all types though
FeteCommuniste 2mo ago
> clinging like Harlow's monkey to a simulacrum of togetherness mediated via a screen like we do today Damn that analogy hits hard.
pessimizer 2mo ago
What people want back is the crazy innovation of getting every one of your friends' updates unless you have intentionally muted them, in chronological order. It was also nice to decorate your page. Made it yours.
- AznHisoka 2mo ago
  There is also an age factor. As we get older, people simply are way too busy to update others on their life. Or we recognize that most people simply do not care. That is something that can never come back, no matter what changes a social network implements
frollogaston 2mo ago
The good old days were when social media wasn't a thing. There was a gap between MySpace and Facebook circa 2007 where neither was popular for my age range, I guess cause only older people used MySpace.
pipeline_peak 2mo ago
> I don't think bringing it back will bring back the good old days. Why does it have to be all or none? There’s clearly a demand for this.

nelsonic 2mo ago

I was curious too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Harlow#Monkey_studies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Harlow#Monkey_studies

delis-thumbs-7e 2mo ago
Content warning: One will be extremely sad and dissapointed at humanity.
- estearum 2mo ago
  Man yeah... that's some heartbreaking stuff. I was (oddly) relieved to see that these horrible experiments actually did lead to improvements in how humans raised their young. > Physical contact with infants was considered harmful to their development, and this view led to sterile, contact-less nurseries across the country. A view which these experiments apparently contested, and now is probably widely regarded as abhorrent. Poor monkeys though.
  - appplication 2mo ago
    I was amazed reading this: > Critics of Harlow's research have observed that clinging is a matter of survival in young rhesus monkeys, but not in humans, and have suggested that his conclusions, when applied to humans, overestimate the importance of contact comfort and underestimate the importance of nursing. I don’t know how one (especially anyone who has raised a child) could think contact is less important in humans or that this doesn’t generalize.
    - kunai 2mo ago
      > I don’t know how one (especially anyone who has raised a child) could think contact is less important in humans or that this doesn’t generalize. Look around this forum, and all of the rampant fealty and worship towards LLMs and the mythical blood sacrifices made to the vaporware AGI god, or asociable people bragging about how Claude is a better friend, co-worker, and (rare but I've seen it) romantic partner than actual human beings. Plenty of people out there, more than we're willing to admit, are callous, unfeeling, unempathetic, and uncaring. They may not rise to the level of outright sociopathy or psychopathy, but they generally do not regard emotions highly, negative or positive. This archetype is overrepresented in academia and science, so make of that what you will.
      - marginalia_nu 2mo ago
        > Plenty of people out there, more than we're willing to admit, are callous, unfeeling, unempathetic, and uncaring. They may not rise to the level of outright sociopathy or psychopathy, but they generally do not regard emotions highly, negative or positive. This archetype is overrepresented in academia and science, so make of that what you will. FWIW in tech I think this is often poor emotional awareness and lacking emotional vocabulary than callousness and a lack of emotions in themselves. Kind of state you end up in if you spend too much time with computers and books and not enough learning the nuances of social life as a kid. Though with Harlow I don't know. Gives me a vibe he could have been a season of Mindhunter if he'd made a few different life choices.

TFNA 2mo ago

MySpace was notorious for people with social problems who weren't getting out much. Bedroom musicians were able to share tunes and get buzz that they wouldn't have been able to achieve before, since they couldn't manage the in-real-life socialization needed for self-promotion.

beezlewax 2mo ago
That whole emo scene seemed to eminate from MySpace. It was great for budding musicians of all types though

FeteCommuniste 2mo ago

> clinging like Harlow's monkey to a simulacrum of togetherness mediated via a screen like we do today Damn that analogy hits hard.

pessimizer 2mo ago

What people want back is the crazy innovation of getting every one of your friends' updates unless you have intentionally muted them, in chronological order. It was also nice to decorate your page. Made it yours.

AznHisoka 2mo ago
There is also an age factor. As we get older, people simply are way too busy to update others on their life. Or we recognize that most people simply do not care. That is something that can never come back, no matter what changes a social network implements

frollogaston 2mo ago

The good old days were when social media wasn't a thing. There was a gap between MySpace and Facebook circa 2007 where neither was popular for my age range, I guess cause only older people used MySpace.

pipeline_peak 2mo ago

> I don't think bringing it back will bring back the good old days. Why does it have to be all or none? There’s clearly a demand for this.