Pervasive anxiety, insecurity, feelings of dread, helplessness, anger, frustration--any of these conditions that a person is feeling routinely arouses impulsive, at times, self-destructive defenses. Many feeling hopeless withdraw from social interactions and self-medicate. Yet some can vent frustration, giving aggressive rise of intolerance and even devaluation of others. A safe place to do such is online.
why do so many discussions turn contentious?
just venting....why do so many discussion posts need to turn contenious and nasty? do you guys find that constructive and/or enjoyable? I have no clue who or how this forum is moderated, but I sure would love to see a stop to that...it makes me feel like this hobby is dominated by total jerks.
Can't we play nice, share OPINIONS and OBSERVATIONS, realizing that they often are subjective and biased.
"if you dont have anything nice to say, say nothing"? If you wish to disagree, do it in a constructive and mature fashion, no need for "argument ad hominem"...
with all the chaff, one must waste so much time finding the wheat, figuratively speaking.
I doubt my writing this will change anything, but, like most social media, people writing to others without facing them does not bring out the best, sadly......
Can't we play nice, share OPINIONS and OBSERVATIONS, realizing that they often are subjective and biased.
"if you dont have anything nice to say, say nothing"? If you wish to disagree, do it in a constructive and mature fashion, no need for "argument ad hominem"...
with all the chaff, one must waste so much time finding the wheat, figuratively speaking.
I doubt my writing this will change anything, but, like most social media, people writing to others without facing them does not bring out the best, sadly......
Showing 3 responses by lfssbn1
Read and reread many of the responses and it's easy to agree with many who offer objective, rational insights into the swampy fringe areas. The fringe area as named has persisted since the invention of printing press. However, now with the availability and freedom of the Net, those compelled to wrap themselves in self-righteous garb and spread the plague of misinformation find support with little effort. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/12/philip-agre-ai-disappeared/
Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, was prescient about many of the ways technology would impact the world By Reed Albertotti August 12, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. EDT In 1994 — before most Americans had an email address or Internet access or even a personal computer — Philip Agre foresaw that computers would one day facilitate the mass collection of data on everything in society. That process would change and simplify human behavior, wrote the then-UCLA humanities professor. And because that data would be collected not by a single, powerful “big brother” government but by lots of entities for lots of different purposes, he predicted that people would willingly part with massive amounts of information about their most personal fears and desires. “Genuinely worrisome developments can seem ‘not so bad’ simply for lacking the overt horrors of Orwell’s dystopia,” wrote Agre, who has a doctorate in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an academic paper. Nearly 30 years later, Agre’s paper seems eerily prescient, a startling vision of a future that has come to pass in the form of a data industrial complex that knows no borders and few laws. |