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The Shut-In Economy

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Re: The Shut-In Economy

#331

Post by pteredactyl »

JohnBooty wrote: post #276
agentultra wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I've noticed is the missing "friendly strangers" in my life -- the people you recognize by being visible in your community at all of the places people regularly frequent (or used to at least). Seeing the same people again and even just recognizing they are there reinforces a sense of place for me. I moved out of the big city to a smaller one and was instantly fascinated by people who would say, "Hi," as I p…

Yeah it's weird. In the city, you can meet all these people, but actual neighbors treat each other like strangers. In the suburbs, neighbors are often (not always!) super friendly. My neighbors and I have watched each others' pets and helped each other in a lot of ways. I think it's just the "buying" versus "renting" thing. In the city most people are renting. There's less incentive to make friends with your neighbor…

My neighbors are my friends and I rent in SF. Takes time though. And its sad to see people leave, but that means I have a reason to visit and a place to stay in Copenhagen, for example

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#332

Post by mrec »

lmm wrote: post #323
mrec wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. I absolutely get where you're coming from; I'm an extreme introvert living in London, and the anonymity is about the only thing that makes it bearable. The flip side here, and in many (but not all) metropoles, is the near-impossibility of finding quiet, either at work (expensive commercial property pushing employers toward open-plan bedlam hell) or at home (expensive residential property pushing people in…

Modern buildings in London seem to have got the soundproofing right; of course you'll pay for it but it's worth it IMO. I live in a shared ownership (housing association owns 75%, me 25%) flat and it's completely quiet (the tradeoff is that I'm living in Tottenham as that's the only way to make it even vaguely affordable).

Sounds nice. I'm a bit further in (N4) and in an older conversion, and it's not even a tiny bit quiet.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#333

Post by abalashov »

jaza wrote: post #114

It's an eye-opener to me, seeing the extremes at which this way of life has apparently arrived... for one group of people in one place in the whole world. Seriously, this article pretends all of humanity in 2015 lives this way. It doesn't! There are approx. 7 billion people outside the Bay Area bubble universe! (Perhaps the author, a resident of the bubble herself, has forgotten this?). Sure makes me feel old-fashion…

Yes, but we have some of these services in Atlanta, and it may portend of future things to come, at least for a certain category of well-compensated people.

My general experience has been that Valley trends do get exported, if with considerable latency, to other metro areas. Uber and Lyft are big hits. GrubHub matters. A nontrivial percentage of people in my generation seem to use Instakart...

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#334

Post by archagon »

kaitai wrote: post #326
archagon wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sorts of things do you make? My "curse" is that as a programmer, all the beautiful and functional things I know how to make require me to sit in front of a glowing screen all day! Maybe I should take up woodworking or something.

Food :) (everyone loves that!) Beer (great way to meet people -- everyone wants to swap beer). Textiles, beadwork, crappy art. I really am thinking of woodworking -- I would like to make a really nice chair. Or a salad bowl.

Actually, I've been really interested in getting into beer! How easy is it to get started? How long did it take you to get good results?

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#335

Post by agentultra »

wutbrodo wrote: post #312
agentultra wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I've noticed is the missing "friendly strangers" in my life -- the people you recognize by being visible in your community at all of the places people regularly frequent (or used to at least). Seeing the same people again and even just recognizing they are there reinforces a sense of place for me. I moved out of the big city to a smaller one and was instantly fascinated by people who would say, "Hi," as I p…

> The culture of the city I just came from was different. People would assume you wanted something if you opened your mouth or looked at anything but the ground a few meters in front of you. For more than a decade I lived in a place where people weren't nice to you unless they were selling something. Honestly, I've heard this a lot, but I moved from a suburby area to one of the densest cities in the country and IME,…

I agree; it wasn't like everyone was marching in line with their heads down and keeping quiet. It was just the predominant way to act in public: headphones in, eyes down, don't disturb anyone.

I didn't even notice it until I moved when people would actually make eye contact, talk, and be polite. You still pass people with their headphones in and eyes down... but they're not the majority in the smaller, less crowded city.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#336

Post by smackfu »

WalterSear wrote: post #319
smackfu wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They always keep right around 700 calories, which is pretty healthy for a dinner.

That's not the point. It means they are delivering the same amount of food (2 X half a portion), for pretty much the same price, minus the enjoyment of eating out. And apparently, they take about as much to make as a regular meal from the store. EDIT: I think we are talking at cross purposes - I meant restaurant meals are usually plenty for two people.

Ah yes, I thought you were referring to the home meals as having two servings.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#337

Post by tedks »

gress wrote: post #317
tedks wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the point of my post was not to argue for the serotonin hypothesis of depression. If you think that, might I suggest that you missed my point, and you should perhaps reread with an eye towards absorbing novel information and viewpoints rather than trying to classify literally everything as either on a FOR or AGAINST side in a binary argument?

You were arguing that the absence of a blood test doesn't necessarily undermine chemical imbalance theories because of the complexity of the systems involved.

...this is still not my point. I was not addressing chemical imbalance theories at all.

Rather, I was trying to argue that the absence of a blood test doesn't make depression ascientific.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#338

Post by gress »

tedks wrote: post #337
gress wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You were arguing that the absence of a blood test doesn't necessarily undermine chemical imbalance theories because of the complexity of the systems involved.

...this is still not my point. I was not addressing chemical imbalance theories at all. Rather, I was trying to argue that the absence of a blood test doesn't make depression ascientific.

Nobody is saying that depression is ascientific. The context of the thread was that chemical imbalance theories are ascientific.

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#339

Post by mblakele »

wutbrodo wrote: post #330
mblakele wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you so certain that I didn't mean what I wrote?

In case you're talking about "I know you're not being literal here": Because only a lunatic would think that high-status people think they're literally no longer classified as Homo Sapiens? In case you're talking about "Apologies if I'm misinterpreting you here": The word "if" is generally used to indicate conditioning on an event: i.e. "considering only the situation in which this is true". Nothing about the word in…

Lunatic? Well, I avoid making statements about my own sanity. But people sometimes decide that they are superhuman, or that others are subhuman. The ancient Greeks called it hubris. Nowadays we are more likely to say someone is out of touch, or living in a bubble. It shows up in comments like "Only the little people pay taxes".

Re: The Shut-In Economy

#340

Post by wutbrodo »

agentultra wrote: post #335
wutbrodo wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The culture of the city I just came from was different. People would assume you wanted something if you opened your mouth or looked at anything but the ground a few meters in front of you. For more than a decade I lived in a place where people weren't nice to you unless they were selling something. Honestly, I've heard this a lot, but I moved from a suburby area to one of the densest cities in the country and IME,…

I agree; it wasn't like everyone was marching in line with their heads down and keeping quiet. It was just the predominant way to act in public: headphones in, eyes down, don't disturb anyone. I didn't even notice it until I moved when people would actually make eye contact, talk, and be polite. You still pass people with their headphones in and eyes down... but they're not the majority in the smaller, less crowded c…

Ah okay, I was lumping you in with other people I've heard express similar things. I've particularly found odd the claim that saying hello to strangers gets you weird looks in a big city.
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