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Dopamine Fracking

igerman.cc

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Re: Dopamine Fracking

#231

Post by threetonesun »

tetris11 wrote: post #200
fireflash38 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maple syrup is a big one. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to even fancy breakfast restaurants and had real maple syrup. Cracker barrel used to, decades ago now. It's all garbage corn syrup now. I'd rather not have syrup at all than that cloying, thick, gross stuff.

the real stuff was arguably improved upon with the thicker replacement. I don't want wet pancakes.

As New Englander I feel it's important to note that there are, like olive oil, various grades of maple syrup. They changed the system but Grade B / Dark maple syrup is the best for pancakes and "thickness". If you want to make a sauce or cook with it, golden or amber are fine.

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#232

Post by Aurornis »

kriro wrote: post #209

There's a certain irony in coining the term on discord. Nice blog post but I'm used to reading these from people who hang out on IRC. Times are changing indeed. My private version of anti-dopamine fracking is playing the phone game. Every social event I attend, I try to be the last person to look at their phone (well basically not look at it at all). It is fairly sad how easily this game is won in under 30 minutes in…

> There's a certain irony in coining the term on discord

And the section in the middle where they start praising a YouTube video series that validated his anger and encourages us to go watch it.

You can sense the author’s struggles with self-regulation at the center of this article, but they have a blind spot for the content and apps that they really like. I think people in this situation would do better to start looking for positive outlets for their time like taking up an activity or exercise routine that gets them out of the house and away from screens. Trying to set arbitrary boundaries to avoid really bad content and apps is good, but if that time is just backfilled with other apps and videos then it’s only a very partial help.

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#233

Post by virtualritz »

plastic-enjoyer wrote: post #104
raumgeist wrote: post #61

Reminds me of Adornos "Dialektik der Aufklärung" and its take on what he calls the "Kulturindustrie". Almost 100 years ago he foresaw how the cultural offerings of society get commodified and chopped into bite sized chunks for each individual to receive theirs. He did not forsee us taking it this far, nor the addictive nature of the consumption though. An additional danger is how this pulls all of us down. Staying wi…

You have a whole strand of German and French cultural pessimism that foresaw the convergence of mass media to the current point to some degree. > Staying with the articles example, by adding artificial strawberries flavour to everything those that could have enjoyed the natural experience never get the opportunity to do so, preventing them from acquiring the taste. I would go so far to say, that even if people tasted…

Same with truffle mayo or truffle-based products. [1]

People who grew up on the artificial flavor prefer it over the real one. I have quite a few in my circle of friends.

You go to an Italian restaurant and you get plain pasta, panned in butter or olive oil and then someone comes with a real truffle and grates it in front you of over your dish until you tell them to stop. You pay for that amount.

Unless you go to a restaurant with a great reputation or some Michelin star venue, that is the only way to be sure you're eating real truffles. The dish has no truffle-aroma itself and the truffle is grated while you watch.

Assuming ofc (and probably true for most people): your palate is not well acquainted to the taste of the real thing enough to tell it apart from the many fakes/substitutes.

[1] https://www.tasteatlas.com/truffle-industry-is-a-big-scam

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#234

Post by doubled112 »

numbsafari wrote: post #229
wincy wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is like how 95% of SUVs are basically just minivans with a slightly different body. You have to research to find one with a truck engine that can say, haul a travel trailer. Another one that comes to mind is shutters on windows. People like the look but they’re just planks of wood in the vast majority of cases now.

.. and here I am wanting better minivan options that can pull a travel trailer.

And here I am just wanting station wagons to come back, and be reasonably priced.

The towing numbers are always higher in Europe than US too, despite being the same cars (as far as I know).

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#235

Post by wincy »

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #168
plastic-enjoyer wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a whole strand of German and French cultural pessimism that foresaw the convergence of mass media to the current point to some degree. > Staying with the articles example, by adding artificial strawberries flavour to everything those that could have enjoyed the natural experience never get the opportunity to do so, preventing them from acquiring the taste. I would go so far to say, that even if people tasted…

I was fully triggered by the hollandiase bit. This is something I look for constantly when I travel for real eggs Benny. It's never real, even at higher end hotels. They just use better quality fake stuff. And it's so good when it's real.

My wife makes real Eggs Benedict for me once a year on my birthday. I went to a resort hotel and spit out their Eggs Benedict it tasted so bad compared to what I get at home. They comped my meal. I guess this explains why I’m constantly confused why Eggs Benedict doesn’t taste right. I’ve found one, maybe two restaurants with passable Eggs Benedict in my city.

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#236

Post by hammock »

fireflash38 wrote: post #169
plastic-enjoyer wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a whole strand of German and French cultural pessimism that foresaw the convergence of mass media to the current point to some degree. > Staying with the articles example, by adding artificial strawberries flavour to everything those that could have enjoyed the natural experience never get the opportunity to do so, preventing them from acquiring the taste. I would go so far to say, that even if people tasted…

Maple syrup is a big one. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to even fancy breakfast restaurants and had real maple syrup. Cracker barrel used to, decades ago now. It's all garbage corn syrup now. I'd rather not have syrup at all than that cloying, thick, gross stuff.

At a restaurant it’s hard because people use way too much and it’s expensive stuff. A solution could be tiny packaged packets of it, the way they do with butter (in part for much the same reason)

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#237

Post by drcongo »

anon-3988 wrote: post #127

The prime example for me of this phenomena is selfies. What is the point of taking pictures, really? To capture the moment? Or to post to social media? If I am going to be honest, most pictures today are taken so that they are able to be broadcasted it to everyone. I believe I have superior taste in this where I don't take selfies but instead take pictures of people and environment just doing stuff. The moment someon…

I posted something very similar on here last year after a visit to Ibiza - as we sat eating lunch in the castle in Ibiza old town, a group of young women spent the entire time we were there, maybe an hour and a half, in turn posing for photos next to a plant. Each time one went in for the pose, they'd pass their phone to a friend to take the pictures. It went on and on. The two things that really struck me about this were: 1. all the photos seemed to be taken with the subject's phone, so nobody had any photos of the people they were actually there with, and 2. If they'd turned around, there was an absolutely stunning view right behind them.

I felt old.

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#238

Post by regexorcist »

As someone under 40 who never had any social media, I cannot overstate the negative impact it's had on my peers and their behaviours. Worst thing to ever happen to society imo, I feel for the younger ones who grew up with it.

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#239

Post by ahartmetz »

virtualritz wrote: post #233
plastic-enjoyer wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a whole strand of German and French cultural pessimism that foresaw the convergence of mass media to the current point to some degree. > Staying with the articles example, by adding artificial strawberries flavour to everything those that could have enjoyed the natural experience never get the opportunity to do so, preventing them from acquiring the taste. I would go so far to say, that even if people tasted…

Same with truffle mayo or truffle-based products. [1] People who grew up on the artificial flavor prefer it over the real one. I have quite a few in my circle of friends. You go to an Italian restaurant and you get plain pasta, panned in butter or olive oil and then someone comes with a real truffle and grates it in front you of over your dish until you tell them to stop. You pay for that amount. Unless you go to a r…

If the real thing doesn't taste like gasoline, I'd probably prefer the real thing. I find fake truffle disgustingly gasoline- or solvent-like.

Re: Dopamine Fracking

#240

Post by short_sells_poo »

subscribed wrote: post #225
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Canadian friend brought me back 2 bottles of local maple syrup as a gift. Ok, I'm a pretentious Frenchman when it comes to food and I do think most North Americans have no idea how real food tastes. But that stuff, I didn't know how it really tasted before trying the OG thing. Globalisation gave us the illusion of experiencing the world.

I think it's worse than that. It promotes race to the bottom. I love strawberries, blueberries (bilberry variety) and tomatoes, but apart of the few times in the year when I can collect my own or visit a PYO farm I'm not eating them at all. Every shop (small and huge alike) only sells the fake, hyper-accelerated garbage (sorry Spain and Morocco, but that stuff is just gross), or - in season - locally grown similarly…

Living in London, I notice the same. Getting access to true quality produce is not even a question of money now, it's basically just impossible to get full stop. There are a few local shops in the more upmarket areas that survive on the fact that people are willing to pay the 2-3x premium over the prices at Waitrose.

Gone are the days when you could ask the grocer or farmer to give you a peach to taste. People got used to having 24/7/365 access to everything, and supermarkets optimized purely for looks instead of taste and nutrition, because you aren't allowed to taste anything there. The only thing you can go by is the looks. This means looks sell.

I'd hazard a guess the vast majority of brits don't even know what a proper strawberry tastes like, because the only thing they can buy are beautifully polished turds. Everything tastes watery and crap, or conversely just generic "sweet".

I wouldn't even blame farmers. Their life is hard enough. They are operating on razor thin margins in a very uncertain environment. The consumer (against their own interests) demands that they produce beautifully and cheap turds, so that's what they'll produce. And if you try to do the right thing, you simply run out of money because you can't compete with the turds at the supermarket.

I only have empirical evidence for this, but it got much worse since Brexit as well. The variety has gone down a lot, I see shelves routinely empty at supermarkets and they all seem to be focusing on the same ultraprocessed crap.

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