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Dehumanization is a poor framing, really. It was never humanized in the first place. Sure, those of us who have a technical understanding understand that it is likely that there are humans involved as an implementation detail, but from the user perspective there is no other human to be seen. If the technical backend were replaced by a sufficiently capable LLM (or whatever technology) absolutely nothing about the user…
You could say the same about NPCs in a holodeck, effectively declaring that talking to people face to face is really a solitary activity
30 minutes with a stranger
361–370 of 406 posts
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#362Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dehumanization is a poor framing, really. It was never humanized in the first place. Sure, those of us who have a technical understanding understand that it is likely that there are humans involved as an implementation detail, but from the user perspective there is no other human to be seen. If the technical backend were replaced by a sufficiently capable LLM (or whatever technology) absolutely nothing about the user…
You could say the same about NPCs in a holodeck, effectively declaring that talking to people face to face is really a solitary activity
There is no doubt a lot of truth in that statement at some kind of fundamental level, but as far as language goes, that's literally the opposite of what we consider a solitary activity. Staring at a computer screen on the other hand...
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#363[flagged]
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45128233 and marked it off topic.
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#364[flagged]
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Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#365Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#366Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is (one of) the reasons I prefer places where you can walk, bike, or take public transit to get around. It’s one of the only times of day I’ll see and maybe talk to people very different from myself. Though this is also fading as people are on their phones and have ear buds in.
I joined a gym for a few months last year partly because I thought it would be a great way to meet some people. BIG misread on my part. It turns out most public gyms around here have a strong "leave me the hell alone vibe." Essentially zero eye-contact. Pretty much everyone had earbuds in and I didn't bother them. I said "hello" to those without earbuds once in a while but only got a silent death glare in response. S…
I mean, I have earbuds. And sometimes I use them on the commute to work to practice Dutch (or did, before I worked remote). But there's definite downsides to the increased convenience of filling "empty" time.
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#367It's the internet. When you talk to people online, it often descends into pettiness. When you talk to people in the real world, that rarely happens. But it's much easier to talk online, so people get the wrong impression. You should talk to strangers. It's never gone wrong for me. Most people have a warmth and agreeableness that comes out when you are there with them, talking about stuff. There's also the interesting…
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#368I'm increasingly convinced that social isolation is the single great social ill of our time. I am not one for "respecting others' opinions" at all, make no mistakes, if someone believes something incorrect - or worse - then they need to be corrected. But so much of the hate simmering away like a pot about to boil over is the result of loneliness. The evidence on this is startingly clear. https://www.sciencedirect.com…
This was something I believed when I was 21, and then was corrected by time. There are very few instances where anyone needs to be corrected in a social setting. Learning to move on without demanding they accept your argument is hugely important.
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#369Earlier quoted context omitted.
I usually agree with this, but I make an exception for Pudding because they consistently do this and it’s kind of their brand to have really immersive JS art/media. But I have the benefit of having read and enjoyed their stuff before. It’s probably a false distinction, but it feels different to a SaaS product offering page, or product launch, where I need to get information, compared to someone using JS to create art…
Not quite as immersive as their deep dive into the Visual History of Rickrolling [0] but still a neat and interesting project. [0] https://pudding.cool/2021/07/rickrolling/
Re: 30 minutes with a stranger
#370Pretty sure I read somewhere that many people prefer Waymo over Uber because there's no driver, which kinda contradicts these findings. How about HN users? Do you typically enjoy chatting with an Uber driver? If this "30 minutes with a stranger" experiment was performed during the pandemic, it could be that people were short on human connection at the time, and that explains why they valued it so much.
I've had interesting conversations with uber drivers and not so interesting conversations. I prefer to use one of those charge-by-the-minute rental cars if they're available, because they tend to cost 1/3 as much and I'm perfectly capable of driving myself.