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> That's a very... bleak perspective on your brother's motives. Well, it may have been an overstatement, but not by much. Look, I have anger issues, but I nev

by zephen 8d ago

> That's a very... bleak perspective on your brother's motives. Well, it may have been an overstatement, but not by much. Look, I have anger issues, but I never get angry at things because they are never trying to hurt me, and nothing good can come of it. I could probably fix most remote control issues (e.g. bad battery contact), but not after it's been smashed. I also tend to feel the same way about, e.g., a rabid dog or vermin. Get rid of them, but not in anger.

andrewflnr 8d ago
I'm not saying it's rational either way. But getting angry at things is, at least as far as I can tell, normal for most people, without any subconscious idea those things are people.
- zephen 8d ago
  > But getting angry at things is, at least as far as I can tell, normal for most people. I can well believe that I am an outlier here. Maybe not everybody else believes that: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=zephen#49748843 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=zephen#49748843 > without any subconscious idea those things are people. Right, but there is a subset of anthropomorphism that relates to sentient beings, which is what I was trying to get at. Being angry at something is one thing; wanting to immediately destroy it in anger is possibly another. I will admit I don't know the exact feelings involved, because I generally don't have them. The closest I come is the anger I feel at the designers of IVR systems that are too stupid to answer your questions and too obstinate to connect you to a human. I admit to yelling at those, but honestly part of that is that I have read that some of them are designed to sense frustration in users and connect you faster to an agent in some cases. But I have no idea how true that is, or whether it's just like pressing the completely impotent "close door" button on an elevator.
  - andrewflnr 7d ago
    > Being angry at something is one thing; wanting to immediately destroy it in anger is possibly another. This is a real distinction, yes. I just don't see what it has to do with anthropomorphism. Like maybe you're saying the second one is more often directed at people-like entities? I don't feel that at all.

by zephen 8d ago

andrewflnr 8d ago

I'm not saying it's rational either way. But getting angry at things is, at least as far as I can tell, normal for most people, without any subconscious idea those things are people.

zephen 8d ago
> But getting angry at things is, at least as far as I can tell, normal for most people. I can well believe that I am an outlier here. Maybe not everybody else believes that: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=zephen#49748843 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=zephen#49748843 > without any subconscious idea those things are people. Right, but there is a subset of anthropomorphism that relates to sentient beings, which is what I was trying to get at. Being angry at something is one thing; wanting to immediately destroy it in anger is possibly another. I will admit I don't know the exact feelings involved, because I generally don't have them. The closest I come is the anger I feel at the designers of IVR systems that are too stupid to answer your questions and too obstinate to connect you to a human. I admit to yelling at those, but honestly part of that is that I have read that some of them are designed to sense frustration in users and connect you faster to an agent in some cases. But I have no idea how true that is, or whether it's just like pressing the completely impotent "close door" button on an elevator.
- andrewflnr 7d ago
  > Being angry at something is one thing; wanting to immediately destroy it in anger is possibly another. This is a real distinction, yes. I just don't see what it has to do with anthropomorphism. Like maybe you're saying the second one is more often directed at people-like entities? I don't feel that at all.