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Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

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Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#71

Post by et-al »

To a certain extent, this how we used to travel back in the day.

You hung out in a hostel, had conversations with other travelers (instead of thumbing through Instagram), and let the randomness of other people and life, not apps, dictate your itinerary. You walk down a street, "oh hey that looks interesting", and wander down a quiet alley that leads to cute cafe, or jump in the back of a tuk-tuk headed to a waterfall that may or may not really exist, but who cares? You're riding the wave. One of the main reasons for travel/holidays is to break from routine, and the single most significant one can do, bear with me Silicon Valley, is to put away that smartphone. Try exercising your intuition instead of apps.

Many folks nowadays have optimised their lives so much that they've needed to create a noise-generator to bring back some humanity.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#72

Post by raarts »

davidcelis wrote: post #44
reustle wrote: post #7

I actually met Max while we both happened to be in Thailand in 2015. We spent the day on bicycles following the directions his script told him, without hesitation. Regardless of where it was in the city, that's where we went next (a laundry mat, daycare, cafes, and the zoo iirc). Nothing was skipped, because it was what the software told us to do. Here are some pictures from that day https://goo.gl/photos/gyCNRz2rs7z…

The app took you too a daycare? Where people leave their children? Did you actually enter it, or just move on? I'd feel pretty uncomfortable with a random stranger and his friends showing up to my kid's daycare. I hope the apps have gotten better location filtering in place since 2015.

Maybe you should give the apps a go too. To get out of your tiny little bubble.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#73

Post by user432468 »

NPR so diligently points out white privilege. It couldn't be that he dresses well, has good hygiene, is educated, well off, and speaks politely. It is only because he's white? In San Francisco of all places?

> At first, he was nervous: What if people wouldn't let him in? But, as a kind of unassuming white guy, he actually didn't have this problem. (And Max acknowledges this privilege.)

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#74

Post by countryqt30 »

I think that's a great idea to find inspiration. HOWEVER, there is a huge drawback: you life will be completely random and indirected.

The "Techie" here visited a bunch of random places, random hostels, met random people without any focus, or direction. This will let you be absolutely average, and with poor skills (you are lacking any focus)

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#75

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

davidcelis wrote: post #44
reustle wrote: post #7

I actually met Max while we both happened to be in Thailand in 2015. We spent the day on bicycles following the directions his script told him, without hesitation. Regardless of where it was in the city, that's where we went next (a laundry mat, daycare, cafes, and the zoo iirc). Nothing was skipped, because it was what the software told us to do. Here are some pictures from that day https://goo.gl/photos/gyCNRz2rs7z…

The app took you too a daycare? Where people leave their children? Did you actually enter it, or just move on? I'd feel pretty uncomfortable with a random stranger and his friends showing up to my kid's daycare. I hope the apps have gotten better location filtering in place since 2015.

Trust me, daycares unfortunately already have to deal with unwanted people, often non-custodial parents who may or may not have restraining orders against them, showing up.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#76

Post by losteric »

et-al wrote: post #71

To a certain extent, this how we used to travel back in the day. You hung out in a hostel, had conversations with other travelers (instead of thumbing through Instagram), and let the randomness of other people and life, not apps, dictate your itinerary. You walk down a street, "oh hey that looks interesting", and wander down a quiet alley that leads to cute cafe, or jump in the back of a tuk-tuk headed to a waterfall…

Spot on, apps have optimized our lives... to local maxima. Apps can't guide us to peak happiness because the best is disconnected from the rest.

Even when it comes to something as "simple" as music, I've never found a "favorite" band through something like Spotify. Good music, sure, but the "bar raisers" alway comes from randomness - radio, odd bar show, personal recommendation, cabbie's CD player, etc.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#77

Post by to_bpr »

user432468 wrote: post #73

NPR so diligently points out white privilege. It couldn't be that he dresses well, has good hygiene, is educated, well off, and speaks politely. It is only because he's white? In San Francisco of all places? > At first, he was nervous: What if people wouldn't let him in? But, as a kind of unassuming white guy, he actually didn't have this problem. (And Max acknowledges this privilege.)

It's 2017. If you're not virtue signalling whenever and wherever possible, you're simply not with it.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#78

Post by yttrium »

user432468 wrote: post #73

NPR so diligently points out white privilege. It couldn't be that he dresses well, has good hygiene, is educated, well off, and speaks politely. It is only because he's white? In San Francisco of all places? > At first, he was nervous: What if people wouldn't let him in? But, as a kind of unassuming white guy, he actually didn't have this problem. (And Max acknowledges this privilege.)

Really? You think that this is exclusively a matter of hygiene and style? I don't know what's worse, that you're so misinformed about the existence of white privilege, or that you feel comfortable trying to bring some edgy socio-racial nonsense into this conversation.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#79

Post by to_bpr »

DanBC wrote: post #26
stillhere wrote: post #12

>And Max acknowledges this privilege. Closed article.

You wanted to read an article about someone escaping a bubble, but closed the article the first time it challenged your bubble?

Many are becoming fatigued with the unrelenting virtue signalling that's going on these days.

Re: Eager to Burst His Own Bubble, a Techie Made Apps to Randomize His Life

#80

Post by davidcelis »

eljimmy wrote: post #66
davidcelis wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The app took you too a daycare? Where people leave their children? Did you actually enter it, or just move on? I'd feel pretty uncomfortable with a random stranger and his friends showing up to my kid's daycare. I hope the apps have gotten better location filtering in place since 2015.

Would you feel uncomfortable if the author was a woman? It is sad that in today's society men are immediately perceived as a potential threat to a child. The fear mongering is getting ridiculous.

I made no mention of the fact that the author is a male.
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