I think you might be underestimating Twitter’s role in civilizational thinking.
Like, if I decide I’m going to train for a marathon, in some sense I don’t care what a random thought like “I’m tired and don’t wanna keep running” has to say. The answer is “Nah.”
But it’s also pretty damn important that I notice and account for the thought if I want to keep training.
I actually just got back from exercising. While I was there, I noticed I’d built up an anticipation of pain from keeping going. Now, I do want to keep going longer than I did today. But I also want that part of my mind to feel it can have control/agency over my choices, so I happily wrapped up after ~30 mins, and walked home. Next time I’ll probably feel more comfortable going longer.
But anyway, I’m not seeing the analogy. (Also it’s hard to argue with analogies, I find myself getting lost in hypotheticals all day.)
I don’t respect Twitter anywhere near as much as I respect the part of me that is resistant to physical pain. The relevant part of me that fears physical pain feels like a much more respectable negotiation partner; it cares about something I roughly see as valuable, and I expect I can get it what it wants whilst also getting what I care about (as much physical ease and movement as I desire).
I have a great disrespect for Twitter; it wants to eat all of my thoughts and ideas for its content-creation machine and transform them into their most misinterpreted form, and in return will give me a lot of attention. I care little about attention on the current margin and care a lot about not having to optimize against the forces of misinterpretation.
I’d be interested in reading an argument about how Twitter plays a useful role in civilizational cognition, with the hypothesis to beat being “it’s a mess of symbols and simulacra that is primarily (and almost solely) a force for distraction and destruction”.
I’m not suggesting you remove it from your map of the world, it’s a very key part in understanding various bits of degeneration and adversarial forces. I’m suggesting that giving the arguments and positions that rise there much object-level consideration is a grave distraction, and caring about what people say about you there is kind of gross.
The difference is that I can’t shut down my own internal monologue/suppress my own internal subagents, and I can just choose to Not Read Twitter and, further, Not Post What People On Twitter Say. Which is what I generally choose to do.
Though the analog here would be whether civilization can Not Read Twitter and Not Post What People On Twitter Say. I think civilization has about as much difficulty with that as you or I do with shutting down our respective internal monologues.
I also agree that I am less able to get out of a negotiation with the part of me that is resistant to physical pain, whereas it seems way more doable to me to have massive positive influence on the world without having to care very much about the details of what people write about you on Twitter.
I think you might be underestimating Twitter’s role in civilizational thinking.
Like, if I decide I’m going to train for a marathon, in some sense I don’t care what a random thought like “I’m tired and don’t wanna keep running” has to say. The answer is “Nah.”
But it’s also pretty damn important that I notice and account for the thought if I want to keep training.
I actually just got back from exercising. While I was there, I noticed I’d built up an anticipation of pain from keeping going. Now, I do want to keep going longer than I did today. But I also want that part of my mind to feel it can have control/agency over my choices, so I happily wrapped up after ~30 mins, and walked home. Next time I’ll probably feel more comfortable going longer.
But anyway, I’m not seeing the analogy. (Also it’s hard to argue with analogies, I find myself getting lost in hypotheticals all day.)
I don’t respect Twitter anywhere near as much as I respect the part of me that is resistant to physical pain. The relevant part of me that fears physical pain feels like a much more respectable negotiation partner; it cares about something I roughly see as valuable, and I expect I can get it what it wants whilst also getting what I care about (as much physical ease and movement as I desire).
I have a great disrespect for Twitter; it wants to eat all of my thoughts and ideas for its content-creation machine and transform them into their most misinterpreted form, and in return will give me a lot of attention. I care little about attention on the current margin and care a lot about not having to optimize against the forces of misinterpretation.
I’d be interested in reading an argument about how Twitter plays a useful role in civilizational cognition, with the hypothesis to beat being “it’s a mess of symbols and simulacra that is primarily (and almost solely) a force for distraction and destruction”.
I’m not suggesting you remove it from your map of the world, it’s a very key part in understanding various bits of degeneration and adversarial forces. I’m suggesting that giving the arguments and positions that rise there much object-level consideration is a grave distraction, and caring about what people say about you there is kind of gross.
The difference is that I can’t shut down my own internal monologue/suppress my own internal subagents, and I can just choose to Not Read Twitter and, further, Not Post What People On Twitter Say. Which is what I generally choose to do.
That seems like a fine choice,
Though the analog here would be whether civilization can Not Read Twitter and Not Post What People On Twitter Say. I think civilization has about as much difficulty with that as you or I do with shutting down our respective internal monologues.
I also agree that I am less able to get out of a negotiation with the part of me that is resistant to physical pain, whereas it seems way more doable to me to have massive positive influence on the world without having to care very much about the details of what people write about you on Twitter.