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infotropism comments on Off-Topic Discussion Thread: April 2009 - Less Wrong
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I've never been terribly good with casual chatting. What would people discuss usually ? I don't know which of my limited and eerie pastimes would not scare them away either.
People with eerie pastimes generally talk to other people with eerie pastimes, about their eerie pastimes. If for some reason you have to talk to a normal person, try asking stuff about the person you're talking to, the theory being that people like to talk about themselves.
I'm not great at socialization in a context like this either, but I think these threads are a chance for those of us too sparsely distributed to meetup to get to know each other.
So what are good non-rationality related topics? On other forums I see discussion of: fiction, movies, tv, food, jokes, relationships, love, sex, school, work, requests for advice, silly polls, anecdotes, games, forum games, music, current events, diet, exercise, gadgets, software, comics, quotes, hobbies, science, politics, etc.
Even though this thread is off-topic, should there be any restrictions on what goes down here?
Oh I see. This might even be useful, relaxing effects notwithstanding. So what's people's here take on romantic relationships ? What does it mean to you, to begin with ? Romance, relations, love, sex, how does that interplay, how do they relate ? Do you find it interesting, fulfilling ? Easy, difficult ?
That one has me puzzled for a few years. I still don't know what I should think about it. There seems to be a lot of great reasons for them, none the less that it feels appealing. Still, to be so obsessed, to have one's mind and soul sucked out like that, I find it not a little bit unnerving. Is there more to it, and is it worth the investment in time and energy, when that investment might be better placed somewhere else (in other words, you do not seek love to optimize happiness, you just seek it because you can't help it, regardless of whether you're successful or not, regardless of whether it makes you happy or not) ?
Probably the ability to decide consciously whom one does and does not fall in love with is an important rationalist skill. I've heard that one good technique toward the latter is to focus what people would look like on the inside (literally, the blood and guts and stuff).
Perhaps the pursuit of love does not maximize happiness per se, but on introspection, I find I value love for its own sake; that I value the part of me that needs love, and would not change it even if I could.
Were I able, however, I believe I would modify my pair-bonding circuitry so that a bond could easily be dissolved when the person in question is no longer bonded to me. I do not really think such a change would alter what it is to love another, and it would fix...an unfortunate bug which currently exists.
Now I want to memorize that list for use at parties.
In fact, I can think of at least one other person who needs to memorize that list for use at parties.
We want you to feel comfortable. Maybe we'll start yet another thread for off-topic Creepy chatting. All the subjects you dare not discuss outside the halls of Miskatonic University.
.. I think you chat about anything. That's what makes it chat. Here's something I found interesting, the new PS3 firmware update is going to revolutionize the PS3 by including text chat. . . . a technology that has been readily available on computers since the 1990's. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/04/01/ps3-firmware-v270-update/
This is supposed to be a next gen system. It costs lots of money. And it is just incorporating chat... and that chat is textual? In case you want to plug in a keyboard and pretend it's the nineties. They even used a video to explain the update. ugh.