Nobody knows what's happening online anymore • Hacker News Board

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#281

Post by nradov » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:32 AM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #254

pavon wrote: post #124

Recently I was thinking about how I am completely out of touch with the culture of younger generations, and was about to laugh it off cause that's how it is with every generation, but then I realized that I don't even know how I would know. In the past if you wanted to know what kids were listening to, you change the radio station to that new loud one you normally skip, or watch that new TV show that people are going…

In my early-40's, I've found that the massive gap between youth culture and adult culture has, thankfully, shrunk. While it's still the case that no 16-year-olds are going to want to hang out with us, their language and activities and perspectives don't feel as foreign as Boomers purported to feel about, well, everything. Because unlike previous generations, who fetishized leaving behind childish things and creating…

Are video games actually fun? I used to spend a lot of time playing, until I had an epiphany and realized that it was more like working an unpaid part-time job. I was playing because I sort of felt obligated to reach the next level or finish the campaign or whatever, but I wasn't actually enjoying it and no one else cared about my achievements. So, I just quit and never looked back.

Maybe I was just playing the wrong games.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#282

Post by int_19h » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:37 AM UTC

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #208

pavon wrote: post #124

Recently I was thinking about how I am completely out of touch with the culture of younger generations, and was about to laugh it off cause that's how it is with every generation, but then I realized that I don't even know how I would know. In the past if you wanted to know what kids were listening to, you change the radio station to that new loud one you normally skip, or watch that new TV show that people are going…

I was talking to my younger sister (college student) the other day, and she mentioned that she and her friends are very reluctant to post their opinions online, especially under their real names. This was a bit of a surprise to me, because she volunteers for the Democrats and is openly lesbian, so I would have thought her opinions are generally a great match for the current cultural milieu. I think maybe part of the…

"One of the peculiar phenomena of our time is the renegade Liberal. Over and above the familiar Marxist claim that ‘bourgeois liberty’ is an illusion, there is now a widespread tendency to argue that one can only defend democracy by totalitarian methods. If one loves democracy, the argument runs, one must crush its enemies by no matter what means. And who are its enemies? It always appears that they are not only those who attack it openly and consciously, but those who ‘objectively’ endanger it by spreading mistaken doctrines. In other words, defending democracy involves destroying all independence of thought."

This was written by a socialist (George Orwell) in 1945.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#283

Post by xnx » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:37 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #281

standardUser wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my early-40's, I've found that the massive gap between youth culture and adult culture has, thankfully, shrunk. While it's still the case that no 16-year-olds are going to want to hang out with us, their language and activities and perspectives don't feel as foreign as Boomers purported to feel about, well, everything. Because unlike previous generations, who fetishized leaving behind childish things and creating…

Are video games actually fun ? I used to spend a lot of time playing, until I had an epiphany and realized that it was more like working an unpaid part-time job. I was playing because I sort of felt obligated to reach the next level or finish the campaign or whatever, but I wasn't actually enjoying it and no one else cared about my achievements. So, I just quit and never looked back. Maybe I was just playing the wron…

> Are video games actually fun?

Rarely for Xbox, Playstation, and PC, but frequently for Nintendo. Mario Kart with friends is a certified hoot.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#284

Post by UnFleshedOne » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:39 AM UTC

dogcomplex wrote: post #111

terminous wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that a social media site can have such enormous influence on one's perception of "reality" is staggering and it should die and die quickly. You say this as if humanity has not been fighting over the long-distance communication of information for literally the entire history of human civilization since the invention of language. Even before written language, storytellers decided what oral traditions they would or wo…

Yep and the solution then is the same as it is now - democratizing the means of production and communication, insulating it from the influences of capital and profit. Socialism is the boring age-old answer to every one of these.

China is doing pretty well on that front, yeah...

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#285

Post by int_19h » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:39 AM UTC

1over137 wrote: post #269

mckern wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, The Economist published a 17,000 word un-paywalled piece [0] recently about the NYT's group think problem. [0] https://www.economist.com/1843/2023/12/14/when-the-new-york-...

Maybe I'm old, but didn't the NYT used to be very right-wing?

Maybe you're thinking about NY Post?

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#286

Post by kbaker » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:40 AM UTC

pavon wrote: post #124

Recently I was thinking about how I am completely out of touch with the culture of younger generations, and was about to laugh it off cause that's how it is with every generation, but then I realized that I don't even know how I would know. In the past if you wanted to know what kids were listening to, you change the radio station to that new loud one you normally skip, or watch that new TV show that people are going…

I really enjoy the Garbage Day email newsletter. (disclaimer, I am a paid subscriber.)

Distills the cesspool of the algorithmic feeds to present up-to-date trends, popular memes, etc. as well as a general commentary of the sad state of the modern Internet and our engagement-driven AI-training future.

I don't have a desire to join all the 'socials' myself, but it is nice to try and view at arm's length what 'the new generation' is seeing and thinks is popular.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#287

Post by nuker » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:46 AM UTC

jaakl wrote: post #277

nuker wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Common sense is more valuable You assume that people with high income/education have less common sense. Correct?

Common sense has a new meaning nowadays: it is just opposite of educated. And in that semantic space education = brainwashing. So yes, by that definition higher education (etc) leads to less common sense.

Interesting. Reminds me newspeak language.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#288

Post by ketzo » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:48 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #281

standardUser wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my early-40's, I've found that the massive gap between youth culture and adult culture has, thankfully, shrunk. While it's still the case that no 16-year-olds are going to want to hang out with us, their language and activities and perspectives don't feel as foreign as Boomers purported to feel about, well, everything. Because unlike previous generations, who fetishized leaving behind childish things and creating…

Are video games actually fun ? I used to spend a lot of time playing, until I had an epiphany and realized that it was more like working an unpaid part-time job. I was playing because I sort of felt obligated to reach the next level or finish the campaign or whatever, but I wasn't actually enjoying it and no one else cared about my achievements. So, I just quit and never looked back. Maybe I was just playing the wron…

Many videogames are fun for me personally, and I think that’s about the most complete answer anyone can give!

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#289

Post by akoboldfrying » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:53 AM UTC

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #259

mbb70 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The extreme personalization of the internet/modern life can lead to a feeling of isolation. I recently was on a plane with broken inflight entertainment, so all you could watch was a single movie in lock step with everyone else. When the movie ended, there was a weird sense of camaraderie; "we are all stuck in this tube and we all just sat through that mediocre movie".

> The extreme personalization of the internet/modern life can lead to a feeling of isolation. The extreme manipulation, not personalisation. The latter would be for your benefit, Youtube would study how to make their users happy, have better sleep, be better informed, not fall for scams, etc. But instead they are studying how to make us spend most time on the most clickbait cospiracy theories.

It's a for-profit company and they have never tried to hide that.

If you know a way to make money from exclusively showing users content that makes them happier, better informed, better rested, etc., then by all means go ahead -- I sincerely wish you the best. But you won't need my good wishes, because you will soon outcompete YouTube and all the rest with your healthy-yet-still-profitable alternative.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#290

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 4:55 AM UTC

kredd wrote: post #278

segasaturn wrote: post #4

Maybe that's a good thing? I remember a few years ago when journalists were outsourcing their reporting to Twitter and we had headlines like "The Internet is Freaking Out About X" when it was really a dozen nobodies on Twitter. The death of Twitter and the re-fragmentation of the internet sounds like a breath of fresh air compared to the purple haze of the last decade's centralized web.

The problem I notice is even though we might create niche interest groups online, they're hard to translate into real life. Makes it hard to connect with others when you meet them for drinks, find a movie to watch or some other sort of entertainment. I feel very lucky I was already out of university by the time algo-feeds became mainstream, otherwise it would be hard to chat about "latest episode of Game of Thrones".…

They are not at all. You just need to establish some inclusion criteria, go through one cycle of rejecting people who don't meet it, and the people who remain following a purge tend to have elevated levels of group loyalty. Astroturfing is not that hard, and there's a lot of literature on how to engineer the outcomes you want.