> "I mean, you're not actually learning about this person's culture by playing scrabble with them, or seeing life through their eyes... I play Scrabble too, but

> "I mean, you're not actually learning about this person's culture by playing scrabble with them, or seeing life through their eyes... I play Scrabble too, but I don't think that playing it on my phone with someone 10,000 miles away is any better than playing it with my neighbor." I'd argue differently. Sure, me playing Scrabble with a guy from Albania isn't really imparting any specific education about Albanian culture - but does it need to? More to the point, the non-tech world that existed before didn't offer any specific education about Albanian culture, either. One of the biggest problems we face in the modern age - if not the biggest problem - is the lack of empathy. We've become a society of sociopaths - maybe we always were, but just found more and more destructive ways to manifest it. Doxxings, bomb threats, death threats, and that's just the stuff that doesn't involve shooting anyone or blowing anyone up. If playing Scrabble with a guy from Albania, even without engaging in deep philosophical or political learning, results in me having more empathy for Albanians or just a very shallow increase in understanding about their people or culture, we're already better off. Hell, just the appreciation that they are people, just like us, who play the same games as us, already moves us forward. There's a particularly toxic post further down the thread that decries "entryism" into the tech industry that is, IMO, symptomatic of the problem. Apparently people who are different but share a common interest joining a field is now an invasion of usurpers. This whole worldview rests upon something that is fundamentally xenophobic and sociopathic - as if everyone who wishes to join a group does so only for their own benefit and wishes to disenfranchise whoever is already in the group. And if playing Scrabble, or sharing animated gifs, or arguing about which sports team is best, contributes to just a tiny bit more understanding and empathy, I'll call it a win.