way too much time is spent discussing subjects of such low expected value
Yeah, because the rest of the internet only discusses really relevant stuff, such as whether Wikipedia articles should write “31 December” or “December 31”. (SCNR.)
This is a horrible line of argument if you ever set out to improve a state of affairs. It’s not a reason for us to be happier about the situation; it’s not the right attitude towards improving ourselves; all it ever does is paint a more dismal picture of the world than we previously imagined.
My point is “Doing X is useless, so I’ll stop doing X” is only a valid argument if whatever you’re going to do with your time instead of X would be less useless than X, and the OP hasn’t demonstrated that this is the case, like, at all.
Huh. I don’t think that anyone needs to demonstrate that LW isn’t the single best thing the internet (or life in general) has to offer; I thought we could all agree upon the fact that obviously there are loads of better uses of one’s time other than browsing LW. Given the wide range of useful things to do offered by life, it’s always a good idea to stop doing something you believe to be useless. It’s not like we have a choice only between several ways of wasting your time, some of which are more wasteful than the other.
Unless, of course, the matter at hand is choosing an optimal way to waste your time, given that you’re prone to wasting it anyway. And even in this case you can probably find other ways to spend your time—which feel like leisure—that are going to benefit you more in the long run.
Honestly, your reply looks to me like you’re going on the defensive and bringing up the lowest common denominator as an excuse not to improve.
(Disclaimer: I care less about the truth of the premises (whether LW is or not a waste of time) than about the soundness of the argument and the attitude used to address the matter.)
My comment was supposed to be snarky (hence the “SCNR”), though I didn’t intend the connotation that we needn’t try to improve LW. Anyway, I’m surprised that my clarification has been upvoted this much (+4 as of now).
Yeah, because the rest of the internet only discusses really relevant stuff, such as whether Wikipedia articles should write “31 December” or “December 31”. (SCNR.)
… Yay for more irrelevance?
This is a horrible line of argument if you ever set out to improve a state of affairs. It’s not a reason for us to be happier about the situation; it’s not the right attitude towards improving ourselves; all it ever does is paint a more dismal picture of the world than we previously imagined.
My point is “Doing X is useless, so I’ll stop doing X” is only a valid argument if whatever you’re going to do with your time instead of X would be less useless than X, and the OP hasn’t demonstrated that this is the case, like, at all.
Huh. I don’t think that anyone needs to demonstrate that LW isn’t the single best thing the internet (or life in general) has to offer; I thought we could all agree upon the fact that obviously there are loads of better uses of one’s time other than browsing LW. Given the wide range of useful things to do offered by life, it’s always a good idea to stop doing something you believe to be useless. It’s not like we have a choice only between several ways of wasting your time, some of which are more wasteful than the other.
Unless, of course, the matter at hand is choosing an optimal way to waste your time, given that you’re prone to wasting it anyway. And even in this case you can probably find other ways to spend your time—which feel like leisure—that are going to benefit you more in the long run.
Honestly, your reply looks to me like you’re going on the defensive and bringing up the lowest common denominator as an excuse not to improve.
(Disclaimer: I care less about the truth of the premises (whether LW is or not a waste of time) than about the soundness of the argument and the attitude used to address the matter.)
My comment was supposed to be snarky (hence the “SCNR”), though I didn’t intend the connotation that we needn’t try to improve LW. Anyway, I’m surprised that my clarification has been upvoted this much (+4 as of now).