4 ms·
"Forget the complete absence of the evidence I asked for, this seemed like it was written by someone in the throes of full-blown psychosis or mania or schizophr
by Crito 13y ago
"Forget the complete absence of the evidence I asked for, this seemed like it was written by someone in the throes of full-blown psychosis or mania or schizophrenia with meaningless plans to somehow revolutionize the world."
Realizing that this actually is a distinct possibility is important for anybody interested in talking with random people on the internet. Mental illness is prevalent, and there is little keeping the mentally ill off of the internet.
- toyg 13y ago"prevalent"? Do you know more mentally-ill people than sane people? Common, maybe. Probably underestimated in number, sure. Prevalent, I do hope not!
- Crito 13y agoApparently it depends on which dictionary/thesaurus you check, but "common" seems to be a reasonably well accepted synonym of "prevalent".
- bede 13y agoPrevalence does not imply majority.
- Crito 13y agoIt probably did at one point. Oxford has "predominant" (which would imply majority) as an archaic meaning: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/prevalent http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_eng...
- allannienhuis 13y agohmm, I would have thought that's exactly what it implied. Isn't the root 'prevail', which is more or less 'to win'? That would suggest a majority.
- losethos 13y agoIf I'm not the center of the universe, how do you watch me? Radio says "Terry, take your meds, cause you're crazy." I say "fuck you". I can prove God. I made His temple. It doesn't take a genius to figure-out hardware companies are going to comply and secureboot will be retracted. God says... fine Thus uncorrupted that's_no_fun step uphold conversations heed converse ones openly washing burthen Greenland leaveth fasting items how_bout_it comment attributed protraction preferred NO steps comparison forgiven x True tide reside studies' SUCH floating theft bestow Seven encompass net/donation pitiable willest wronging Academicians compact equals added perceiving abundantly firmament jarring quicken Circensian fain mysterious country-house excellency Paraclete unemployed hypertext reputed associate numberest arose descending ascribe noon Omnipotency mysteries Moreover bemoaning richer motherly hundred vain-glory realities you_don't_say
- thorum 13y agoThe dead comment below seems unusually relevant.
- scarmig 13y agoFor anyone interested, the deaded comment below isn't a random attempt to prove that mentally ill people abound on the internet: he's a regular who posts similar things all the time. It's a pity, because in his moments of lucidity he seems pretty smart.
- jcutrell 13y agoFor more info on losethos, take a look at http://www.templeos.org/ http://www.templeos.org/ - this is an OS he apparently wrote without assistance.
- pvnick 13y agoI also recommend watching this video where he demos the operating system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpujlg-XhEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpujlg-XhEs Losethos's real name is Terry Davis. His video had me awestruck, laughing (he can be pretty funny and relatable), and just all-around amazed at the man's sheer brilliance. I cannot begin to fathom the dedication that it must have taken to create such a piece of software, especially in the face of constant rejection from people on the internet because of his schizophrenia.
- Houshalter 13y agoAnother good reason to stay anonymous and never use your real name online.
- Crito 13y agoAbsolutely. Before I began divorcing my online identity from my 'real' identity^, I had several nutters try to reach out and effect my life 'in the real world'. Dredging through old posts, calling ex-employers, etc. All because they felt slighted for various absurd reasons. Normally when you have problems with a person like this, you can go to the police and get a restraining order. It becomes harder when it is online because you have to weight the possibility that anything that you do to defend yourself might get them closer to finding you. These days I find myself being fairly sensitive to 'craziness', whenever I get the slightest whiff of it I break off the conversation completely. I'm not a professional who is trained in how to deal with people with these sort of problems, so I am not going to attempt it. ^ Technically I was not using my real name, but a pseudonym that was unique enough to only return results relevant to me when googled. I've since taken to using names of characters from history or fiction as my pseudonyms, and picking new ones at least once a year.
- DanBC 13y ago> I had several nutters try to reach out and effect my life 'in the real world'. They might not have had any mental illness, and might have just been unpleasant people. > These days I find myself being fairly sensitive to 'craziness', whenever I get the slightest whiff of it I break off the conversation completely. I am crazy. I've had treatment for a long term, severe, mental illness, from specialist mental health service providers. That illness has caused some admissions to general hospitals. My illness has sometimes affected my posts to HN. (Although I'm pretty good at setting noprocast when needed). I know many people who have spent time in mental health hospitals for severe and enduring mental illness. I let you know so that you can adjust your filters accordingly.
- nullc 13y ago> Another good reason to stay anonymous and never use your real name online I suppose thats a good plan, until someone decides that you'd make a good subject to use to "emphasize to the whole world that privacy is really important because anonymity is highly limited & breakable for even the most competent and motivated person". (I'm quoting Gwern's comments about his own initiative to unmask Satoshi.)