Notices by Tokyo Outsider (337ppm) (tokyo_0@mas.to), page 4

@gamambel @jeffowski What I see is that someone isn't interested at all in the effect their words have on the people reading them. And to be honest, that's enough for me to stop reading. 👋

@drupler Heheh that's very interesting—I'll make a note of it, thanks! 🧡

@ton Wow I felt like I was the only person who had noticed this! It's reassuring that I'm not. I just tried out a question on Hi-Native after posting this, and almost immediately I got an "answer" from an AI-based language learning tool that masquerades as a user and answer everyone's questions immediately. Can't help but feel that's only going to discourage genuine users from responding... but it looks like if I now don't acknowledge the answer it'll affect my account 🙃

Something that really sucks and no one ever talks about is how the guy who created Lang-8 got distracted by the appification of everything, and created Hi-Native as an alternative with a heavy focus on app platforms and, of course, a different pricing model. It's really very poor compared to Lang-8. Lang-8 was infinitely better. But he even went as far as to shut down signups and Lang-8 has been slowly dying ever since, while Hi-Native has never achieved the same success.

@gamambel @jeffowski There's nothing wrong with thinking an opinion or sharing an opinion. If you put it here in a public space intended for discussion and connection, there's also nothing wrong with me pointing out the issues with it.

You're free to offend whoever you please. You're not free of the consequences of your actions. And you're not free of their right, in turn, to say what they think about it.

@drupler It's pretty tough to find genuinely selfless behaviour. If you look close enough, even people who are giving while not appearing to receive in return are getting something out of it—some part of their identity, some association they wouldn't have otherwise etc. Selflessness is a good thing to aspire to, but a hard thing for anyone to achieve.

If people are just straight up lying that's of course quite different.

@trumpet (That it only shows a couple of results is even stranger, to be honest, but nonetheless it does show those results)

@trumpet Apparently so. When I search for my handle that's the only Fediverse instance that shows results.

@trumpet I do use one sometimes, but not all the time. I don't think the times I've seen this have been the same times as I've been using the VPN (I tend to use the VPN to download things or watch shows streamed online that are geolocked, and I only have time to do that in the evening, but I know I've seen this issue with the rate limiting earlier in the day). If using a VPN marks an account in some way it could be that. But if you have to be using the VPN at the time, I don't think that's it.

@gamambel @jeffowski Yes, perhaps. But again, definitions matter when someone is broadcasting an idea like "X thing (that probably at least half the world considers sacred) is poison"

@gamambel @jeffowski I don't think it's possible to say how "careful" all religious people are without indulging in mind-reading or projection—your argument here is at risk of relying on the fact that you think it's the case and so have made assumptions that all the people whose ideas you disagree with must be thinking in a way you disagree with.

@gamambel @jeffowski In fact, the very nature of the human experience relies on us having, ourselves, or hearing about ideas and forming a view of whether they are true or false, almost always without the full information one might require to establish to a broadly acceptable level of proof whether that idea is correct. So being human is also poison. Society is poison. Existence is poison. Are we headed in a good direction?

@gamambel @jeffowski So what you're saying is that it's acceptable to claim all religion is "poison" because the existence of an idea that can't be established as true or false forces people to choose, themselves, whether or not they believe it, and this is authoritarian and so is inescapably poison? 🤔

So science is poison as well, isn't it. Because the practice of science is to form a hypothesis not yet known to be true or false, and use one's ideas about it to test that hypothesis.

@gamambel @jeffowski Since you picked out Sadhguru, let's take Hinduism as an example. Do you believe that god created the world but is separate from it? Or do you believe that he is part of everything? Under what you've just written here these would be two different beliefs, and believing one of the two would exclude you from being part of that "religion". But both schools of thought exist within Hinduism, and all the people could be described as Hindu. Whichever you choose, you're still Hindu.

@gamambel @jeffowski Your post here https://social.tchncs.de/@gamambel/112664995960377960 gave the impression you were referring to institutional religion where someone else decides whether or not you are part of it, which is indeed part of that dictionary definition but definitely not all of it. I think you'll find some religions are more flexible in what they expect than others. This might be where the differing views stem from.

@gamambel @jeffowski That's reasonable enough. The only problem is that when we're communicating our ideas with other people, it's necessary to use words in a way that is consistent with the meaning that will be understood (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion). So I can see how the hashtag might have read as reasonable to you, given your definition of "religion". But given what the word is understood to mean more commonly, it becomes problematic.

@ErikUden "basically" 😂🧡

Again, I don't like arguing with morals. I don't think it's morally wrong to vote Democrat. I think it's important to understand the sides here, because neither side is fascist. Trans people being worried about their future, doing everything they can to vote the one option that ensures their survival, of course feel threatened by any movement that, even indirectly, may bring power to the party or person that eradicates them.

I just hope through that struggle and fear people will gain some understanding for other minorities, people from countries the U.S. is bombing (where Democratic or Republican leadership didn't matter), indigenous people, people who Biden promised a police reform, Palestinians, and why these groups of people may not be so interested in voting for Democrats or enabling their group's mistreatment to continue.

@gamambel @jeffowski Perhaps so. I think "religion" as a term refers to much broader things than the prescriptive "narrow church" religious organisations you seem to be describing here.

“Self-care in the age of collapse”

This piece, like many others by the very brilliant Jessica Wildfire before, captures so much of what I feel right now, battling in the place i happen to be caught in in the malstroem of the #polycrisis (Goldsmiths meltdown, together with everything else). It’s recognising, as JW says, that “there are no good options”, but having to find strategies somehow. 1/2 #ClimateDiary #AcademicVenting

https://www.okdoomer.io/self-care-in-the-age-of-collapse/