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Aside from people with huge audiences and Twitter-related businesses, anything you choose to use and incorporate into your life is at least somewhat of a depend

Aside from people with huge audiences and Twitter-related businesses, anything you choose to use and incorporate into your life is at least somewhat of a dependency, even in the presence of substitutes. For example, I love Chick-fil-A sandwiches. When I moved, the closest Chick-fil-A is now far away. I was dependent on Chick-fil-A, and I'm less happy without it, even though I have missed no meals and probably eaten healthier in its absence. All kinds of things are like this - if emacs went away, I could learn vim. If my apartment building went condo, I could find another place to live. If my favorite TV show got cancelled, I would find something else to watch, read a book, etc. But those are all things I chose to use, and taking any of them away would reduce my welfare by definition, even if only a little bit.

bambax 12y ago
If words have meaning and if we try to stay away from hyperbole, you are not dependent on Chick-fil-A, never have been, never will be.
- pchristensen 12y ago
  What would you suggest (more for e.g. Twitter users than my example)? Reliant? Used to? The whole concept of dependence is that substitutes aren't perfect. Windows/Mac, Android/iOS, emacs/vim - no one is dependent on those, but a lot of people would be pissed if any one of them went away.
  - Double_Cast 12y ago
    I would say that users have a vested interest Twitter's continued service. Also, I don't think substitution has anything to do with dependence. If "dependence" signified inferior substitutes, I'd expect "independence" to signify fungibility rather than autonomy.
  - avalaunch 12y ago
    The issue is obviously one of semantics but your concept of dependence is not the widely accepted concept. Dependence means completely reliant on - no substitutions would do. The thing you're dependent on is a requirement, not a preference. For example, you are dependent on food. Remove food from the equation and you will perish. You are not dependent on Chick-fil-A. Twitpic is dependent on twitter. There are no substitutions that they can make and still survive. They can't port to a service comparable to twitter as there are none. EDIT: Whether or not users are dependent on twitter is up for date. I imagine it depends on their use case.
    - pimlottc 12y ago
      > Dependence means completely reliant on - no substitutions would do. I disagree with that. Package managers have concepts like optional dependencies or alternatives (only 1 of multiple options required). Anyway, you seem to be speaking of dependencies in a technical sense - build dependencies, package dependencies, etc. In a more general sense it is quite normal to say something like "I depend on my bike to get to work" even if I could take the subway or use Uber, or "I depend on YouTube for my daily dose of cat videos" even though you wouldn't really die without them.
    - jychang 12y ago
      Arguably, Twitpic isn't dependent on Twitter per se, just a large microblogging website. Twitpic can possibly open up a Chinese branch that runs on Weibo instead of Twitter, for example.
duaneb 12y ago
You just made a great argument for why you aren't dependent on Chick-fil-A.

bambax 12y ago

If words have meaning and if we try to stay away from hyperbole, you are not dependent on Chick-fil-A, never have been, never will be.

pchristensen 12y ago
What would you suggest (more for e.g. Twitter users than my example)? Reliant? Used to? The whole concept of dependence is that substitutes aren't perfect. Windows/Mac, Android/iOS, emacs/vim - no one is dependent on those, but a lot of people would be pissed if any one of them went away.
- Double_Cast 12y ago
  I would say that users have a vested interest Twitter's continued service. Also, I don't think substitution has anything to do with dependence. If "dependence" signified inferior substitutes, I'd expect "independence" to signify fungibility rather than autonomy.
- avalaunch 12y ago
  The issue is obviously one of semantics but your concept of dependence is not the widely accepted concept. Dependence means completely reliant on - no substitutions would do. The thing you're dependent on is a requirement, not a preference. For example, you are dependent on food. Remove food from the equation and you will perish. You are not dependent on Chick-fil-A. Twitpic is dependent on twitter. There are no substitutions that they can make and still survive. They can't port to a service comparable to twitter as there are none. EDIT: Whether or not users are dependent on twitter is up for date. I imagine it depends on their use case.
  - pimlottc 12y ago
    > Dependence means completely reliant on - no substitutions would do. I disagree with that. Package managers have concepts like optional dependencies or alternatives (only 1 of multiple options required). Anyway, you seem to be speaking of dependencies in a technical sense - build dependencies, package dependencies, etc. In a more general sense it is quite normal to say something like "I depend on my bike to get to work" even if I could take the subway or use Uber, or "I depend on YouTube for my daily dose of cat videos" even though you wouldn't really die without them.
  - jychang 12y ago
    Arguably, Twitpic isn't dependent on Twitter per se, just a large microblogging website. Twitpic can possibly open up a Chinese branch that runs on Weibo instead of Twitter, for example.

duaneb 12y ago

You just made a great argument for why you aren't dependent on Chick-fil-A.