Ideas

Yo, I was just thinking, when we all get together in person, the majority of our conversation is about ideas. We share ideas from stuff we've learned and we evolve our ideas and understandings by synthesizing our knowledge, we speculate, and we learn. Why can't that happen all the time when we are not together? I feel much more inclined to use the forum for something of substance rather than something like shit-posting all day. SO GO.

So I made a post yesterday about a documentary called The Human Scale:


Its really very interesting. A really good quote from this is "If you see life, if you see how it goes, then when you walk, you will take care of lives of others. So when you turn your city into a place where you don't walk, your kids don't walk, you are raising generations so when they grow up, they will be not human." 
This is from I think a Bengali Architect. So its not perfect English. I think what he is trying to say, as is one of the main points of the entire film, is that humans in cities are becoming less social, more isolated. They are changing their lifestyles. And that being social and being active is essential. It is an absolutely essential behaviour of humans. And in that sense, future generations are being raised to be less human.
I think everybody sees this to a degree. If you're out in public, nobody talks to one another. Bus rides are silent. Everybody is so isolated, be it from their phone or just discomfort with interacting with others, or whatever. And its all part of it. Its not like a single person is isolated from a group. Its everybody is isolated from everybody else. Everybody is lonely in that way. Which is fucked and scary.

I feel like humans live a kinda fucked up existence. Am I wrong?

This thread is so abstract and open-ended. Almost like it was made for my brain.

Your OP made me think of something Sean mentioned to me a long time ago, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it to you before. He said that he enjoys talking so much in our circle of friends here because we talk about Ideas. He compares that to back home, or maybe amongst people he doesn't know as well, and says that other people just talk about People.
I feel like in this setting (the forum, or internet in general) it's a lot harder for interesting ideas to arise naturally amongst the flow of information. When you're in person with someone, you're immersed in the real world; where ideas, structures, and emotions are constantly intertwining and building something natural that everybody can share a thought on. By contrast, the internet is cold and disconnected. It's less easy to abstract, to remember, to see things that go on and relate with people through them.

I have a few thoughts on the Human Scale post but to avoid starting an unapproachable conversation i'll just mention one lol. I feel like we do have a fucked up existence. This is what I think is fucked up about it, in the light of this video: 

all species on earth are occassionally forced to adapt to situations that at first might be unnatural to them. for example when the natural habitat of a plant or animal is compromised, it probably goes through a very confusing time as it tries to adjust to what must now become natural. Or if the change is bigger than the life of this one plant or animal, then the adjustment must attempt to be made over the course of several generations, genetically. 
     What's fucked about humans is the unnatural setting that's now causing our discomfort is a direct consequence of our actions, not of some other invasive species or non-life cause. This i guess is because we change our environment more than any other species in an attempt to gain comfort. It's almost like we're so smart that we're dumb.

I agree, human beings are so smart that we've become dumb. We've introduced all this technology into our lives, almost all at once, but we're having a hard time adapting to it properly. We are using it in a negative way, like, looking at your phone in an awkward situation or to avoid talking to someone on a bus. Idk if these things will go away but I feel like it can only get worse.

All humans dislike social awkwardness from the get go and now we have a way to semi-avoid it. I personally think, like Brandon said, it is making us less human. It is decreasing our social skills yet at the same time, we go on about how great social media is. These aren't even real social interactions. Even me directly typing to you guys isn't the same experience as if I were actually looking at you in person and talking to you.

People are becoming more and more afraid of each other and I think it's really sad. I think our generation is one of last few who will notice this change. I seriously think the way we carry around technology around with us is fucked up. Humans are so fucking DUMB

Vyzor wrote:We are using it in a negative way, like, looking at your phone in an awkward situation or to avoid talking to someone on a bus

The saddest part about this for me is that even though I dislike this soooo much I still fall victim to it. Probably more often than I even notice, too.

The question is then, can we go back on this direction we're heading in? Is it really possible? I mean, it's not like there's never been massive ideological movements that change the outlook and traits of entire nations, in fact they probably happen every decade.

loverrboi_626 wrote:

Vyzor wrote:We are using it in a negative way, like, looking at your phone in an awkward situation or to avoid talking to someone on a bus

The saddest part about this for me is that even though I dislike this soooo much I still fall victim to it. Probably more often than I even notice, too.

The question is then, can we go back on this direction we're heading in? Is it really possible? I mean, it's not like there's never been massive ideological movements that change the outlook and traits of entire nations, in fact they probably happen every decade.

Man, I hope this movement actually happens because I'm not liking the look of our country's future. It's already extremely noticeable in the younger generations how they use their phones to avoid looking at people they walk by. I've also noticed how the younger generation is a lot more anti-social compared to everyone else. When you walk by an older person, they tend to always make eye contact to say hello. Young people either purposely look away or immediately pull out their phone as they get close enough. I'm genuinely saddened by this and I feel like there's already a huge disconnect between us and them.

Maybe as they get older, they will actually grow out of it. But it's hard to tell since it is a type of nervous habit at this point. Also, unrelated but books are probably going to become less popular as the years go on

I bet a movement will come. But if we really want to see a change in our culture then we need to do our part and start pumping out some art

And yeah books are certainly becoming less popular. It's strange, however, because people probably read more now than ever before, seeing as how people are always on their phones, texting, using social media. It's just that the information we're getting through written word is so sporadic and unkempt, directionless and unchallenging.

Electric lighting became widely available in the early 20th century,
when the role of the solar photoperiod in entraining human
circadian rhythmicity became subservient, an event unprecedented
over several million years of planetary history. Today, most
of the developed world has complete electrification and the circadian
rhythmicity of humans and many domestic animals is no
longer predominantly entrained by the solar photoperiod. How
naive of mankind to think that induction of chaos in this ancient
and ubiquitous timing system could come without significant
physiological consequence? (Wyse et al. 2011)

Oh that excerpt is absolutely jarring, I love it.

Very relevant to what we were already talking about, too. Driven by the idea that our intelligence and adaptive problem solving has the ability to backfire and hinder us.

It's eerie to ponder on this from my desktop. Out my window I can see the dimly lit sky, the whole world looks like it's had its warmth peeled back by the claws of winter, exposing a deeper blue reality; the colour of antifreeze on bone.
But I'm in here, under a canopy of reddish artificial light. A constant rainbow of information blasts from my computer screen, captivating me.


sorry, off topic, but once I thought about it I just felt like writing.

Does anybody feel like its really difficult to nail down a good diet?

Like no matter what you see, that this is healthy, this is unhealthy, theres always opposing arguments. Like I feel like there is just such an oversaturation of diet information out there that its really hard to figure out whats actually good. I watched a video last night about an MD explaining why Olive Oil is not good for you. Then like 10 mins later, I watched a vid where a nutritionist explained all that was good about it. IDK. GUYZ.

Yeah. There is a constant bombardment of propaganda for or against any sort of food or nutrient. Given the obesity epidemic that shit probably sells like crazy.

Obviously I'm no professional, but I do know that every body and every microbiome is drastically different. I've always been an advocate for stressing diversity in a diet above anything else. When I buy groceries I buy things based on thoughts like "I've been eating this too much lately" or "I haven't had this in a while."
Of course I always stay away from things that tend to upset my body more frequently than not, but that's where the 'everyones body is different' principal is applied.

Alcohol is for sinners

honestly, heres my pros and cons

Pros
Makes you forget about your problems sometimes
Can relieve stress
Is fun (kinda? sometimes? maybe?)
Tastes good with a nice meal

Cons
Expensive
Bad for long term health - long list
acute health effects
increases risk of injury when under effects
tastes BAD sometimes
high in calories - contributes to weight gain
sometimes makes things less fun (see throwing up, or trent when hes drunk)


Also some notes:
Can be social without it
make better choices without it (see $50 pizza bill, including $8 tip fml)
can drive without it ALWAYS
can have lots of fun without it
better memory of events without it



anyways, its BAD

Yeah I don't think it's a fantastic drug at all.

I'm down to stop binge drinking as well.


The one positive I observe from it is pretty swell, though. It often puts me in a meditative state. When I'm on it I don't tend to dwell on things, I simply let everything come to me as it may. Helps decrease feelings of confusion, frustration, anxiety, etc.

Ya, I have a lot of mixed feelings about alcohol. It can definitely be fun, make me forget about all my worries and stress. I turn into a freebird when I'm drunk. But at the same time it makes me feel sick and I do tend to forget a lot of what happened and I can end up acting REALLY stupidly.

I have a sort of idea: what if we created an online forum of sorts that we could use for discussing a litany of topics?

That sounds like a cool and fun idea

its funny that this forum, as a lil snapshot of our lives, exists. it all means a little bit of something but only to the handful of people that contributed here, its funny. its just so mundane, a collection of messages from 6-13 years ago (as of this post). time's flying. I have a human child on the way, isn't that weird???

So mundane yet so meaningful.

I'm really looking forward to you having a kid. Maybe someday he'll have an online forum with his friends.

TheCryptKeeper wrote:So mundane yet so meaningful.

I'm really looking forward to you having a kid. Maybe someday he'll have an online forum with his friends.

Man my kid can only dream of being that cool

How did you log into the admin account? I'd love to fix the broken images on the main page.

I hit u with the deets in pm