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Cake day: May 1st, 2024

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  • I did encounter a very sour group on a certain subreddit somewhat recently haha. But then just yesterday I was searching something online, found a relevant Reddit post through Google, and found a comment thread where two people were tearing each other apart for no reason other than a slight disagreement. It wasn’t a “hmm, I don’t think so.” It was a long chain where the further you went, the darker, meaner, and snarkier it got. Wish I remembered it right now. That’s what got me thinking and making the meme. But yeah, maybe my own experience planted the initial seed.








  • Is it difficult if it’s also inevitable? In a social setting, a child will either learn a language or develop one — two wild children would develop a rudimentary language that would evolve in complexity as it’s passed down generation by generation. I wonder if a feral child, who matured alone and without social interaction, could learn a language later in life. Or, if it could, how difficult it would be.

    What do you mean by the critical period in learning being a byproduct of learning over time as opposed to a special feature of the brain’s age? I don’t think I grasp it. Are you saying that it’s not really the brain’s age, but rather that it hasn’t learned a lot yet? Which are distinct but highly correlated.




  • Are you saying you perform zero mental calculus to determine these sorts of things? You do not consider laws, social norms, or even morals? Where do you draw the line? If there is a literal community fruit tree at a park near your house, would you take all the fruits until people ask you to leave some for them? If you are driving home and you see a house with a beautiful garden, would you stop and steal some of the plants because the resident should tell you not to? Would you practice your guitar at 3am with an amp because, who knows, maybe your neighbors actually enjoy it or maybe they sleep with earplugs and since you had a great musical idea at 3am, you should “be bold” and “take what’s yours” and they should tell you 3am is a stupid time to play guitar with an amp?

    Did you also say you live in a homogeneous community of somewhat assholes and you think you’re being bold by also being an asshole?




  • It’s pretty interesting to think about how our embodied experience changes inside a vehicle. We move faster but are more limited in other ways. All of language is traded for a horn — no more complex grammar and vocabulary, just “beep beep.”

    It would be interesting to see brain studies and brain scans that show whether our brain is in fact working in a more primitive level when inside a vehicle, reflected by the restricted use of language.

    On the other hand, I wonder how brain activity would look for a pilot navigating an extremely complex vehicle using a complex dashboard.





  • Exactly. Our ability to use language, create culture, abstract ideas and concepts and step outside of them are the ingredients that allow us to transcend our evolutionary instincts and urges, and that’s exactly what we should do when building a society and culture.





  • That’s an interesting point.

    Upon further reflection, I discovered I don’t fully understand the nuances. So I tried to think it through.

    I think it goes as follows:

    • Nihilism says there is no meaning so any pursuit whatsoever is futile. (Not goal based.)
    • Existentialism says there is no universal meaning but it is the individual who creates meaning. So we project our meaning into the world and live in it and therefore live in a meaningful world. We should search for our personal meaning. (Goal based.)
    • Absurdism says there is no universal meaning and if there is, we’ll never understand it. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy transient pseudo-meanings, though. In fact, we SHOULD enjoy them. But we should be aware that they’re not eternal and not objective. (Not goal based.)

    So, on second thought, I think the meme does a great a job at capturing absurdism. Still, the difference between existentialism and absurdism is subtle.

    What do you all think? Is that kinda the idea?

    I wonder if Existentialists or Absurdists consider our biological reality and needs when developing the ideas. For instance, we need food, shelter, social acceptance, and so forth. What does this say about “meaning” and pursuits like fashion and style (as it relates to social acceptance?). How does Maslow’s hierarchy of needs fit in with these philosophies?