Independent thinker valuing discussions grounded in reason, not emotions.

I say unpopular things but never something I know to be untrue. Always open to hear good-faith counter arguments. My goal is to engage in dialogue that seeks truth rather than scoring points.

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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: March 14th, 2024

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  • I don’t personally have any issue with algorithms - they work quite well for me, though it does require some active management. For example, if I watch one or two 30-second videos on YouTube, it quickly starts recommending more, which quickly floods my feed. However, when I start ignoring those recommendations, despite the temptation to click, the algorithm eventually stops pushing them and shifts back to suggesting accurately tailored, long-form content that genuinely interests me. The same goes for using the “not interested” button. This aligns with my experience on platforms like Twitter and Instagram as well, though the latter I no longer use.

    Algorithms obviously don’t care whether the content they show you makes you glad that you saw it. They simply serve what captures your attention. If it’s outrage, then that’s exactly what you’ll get. The algorithm knows plenty of other users engage with that kind of content, so it rationally assumes the same will apply to you.


  • Free_Opinions@feddit.uktopics@lemmy.worldMy Wife's Eye
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    1 hour ago

    I remember trying to take a similar picture of my own eye with an DSLR and learning that this close the depth of field was so narrow that if I focus on the surface of the eyeball, the iris would be out of focus. Never before that had I really thought about the fact that there’s depth to it. This is really impressive for an iPhone shot.





  • Right wing ideologies tend to be simpler and thus appeal to those that tend to dislike nuance.

    I don’t agree with this - at least not in the sense that there’s a significant difference between the left and the right here. Both sides tend to oversimplify and misrepresent each other’s views in online discussions. However, when you dig deeper into why someone holds a certain stance, it’s very rare to find it entirely lacking in nuance, regardless of which political side they’re coming from.



  • Like 95% of social media users, regardless of the platform, are mostly lurkers. A tiny fraction of the total user base creates the majority of the content. This is a self-selecting group of people who, by definition, don’t represent the average person - the average person doesn’t comment on message boards.

    Reading discussions on Lemmy, for example, can create a skewed perspective of reality. Views like being okay with murdering CEOs are fairly popular here, yet I’ve never met anyone in real life who thinks this way. My work involves going into people’s homes to fix things, and we frequently chat about current events. I find that my average customer is far more reasonable in their views compared to the extreme opinions that often get highly upvoted here.

    There’s also the broader observation that the left seems to struggle to win elections globally. We hear a lot about people moving toward the right, but rarely about anyone moving the other way. I’m not claiming this as absolute truth - it’s simply how I see things. Of course, there’s always a chance I could be wrong.



  • I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the moral panic caused by this, at least a little. It shows that the pendulum is indeed swinging back from the woke left toward a more reasonable, rational center.

    Disagreeing with things like DEI programs doesn’t make someone far-right - it just means they’re not far-left. You might not like it, but the reality is that the vast majority of people don’t agree with many of the views that are overrepresented on left-wing social media platforms like Lemmy. Doubling down on it just means losing more elections.








  • No, I don’t think the feeling of anger is foreign to anyone. It’s a basic human emotion and we’re all capable of it. By my question I’m rather asking about dwelling in anger thorought the day/week rather than the acute sense of it when something anger-provoking has just happened.

    When someone cuts me off in traffic I might go “You son of a…” but then I catch myself getting angry and the feeling of it just kind of vanishes. It doesn’t really withstand any sort of observation. I guess the difference here is getting angry and staying angry.