Well, you can’t really do that when it’s expressed in written form as long as it’s not part of a grander “manifesto” of sorts. Or better put, as long as it’s not grounded in a context.

This can only be solved by slapping as much nuance as you possibly can on everything you write, make it incontrovertible in its clarity.

But if you’re not in the mood for an adjoining essay whenever you want to post a one-liner (seriously not being snarky about this, I completely understand the feeling of utter tedium when having to explain the same damned thing for the twelfth time), you can always monitor the reaction then provide clarification. Once you’ve done that, you really don’t need to engage any further.

And the most important aspect is to never forget that this is the internet. Some people are in it just to stir up shit, and that’s a game you win by not playing.

Well, you’re off to a good start! Just need “uck” to go with that F and you’re golden!

Joke aside, this may be one of those situations where Corpspeak would just serve to make it worse, either by rendering your message inert, or by generating long-term tension. And, believe me, that tension gets really suffocating really fast.

I think your best bet at this point would be to readjust your view and approach with this coworker. My aunt told me a secret which helped me a lot in theatre, but I’ve learnt it also applies in pretty much every other situation: “if they won’t be your partner on stage, then let them be furniture.”

You have the immense advantage of knowing what to expect from them, which is essentially nothing at this point. I’d say the best response is to offer the exact same in return - if they ever need something from you, dodge, postpone and obfuscate. Fuck’em. Not worth wasting your energy on this situation, it only leads to stomach ulcers.

I almost never do. It’s actually a bit weird, I tend to ramble more in writing than I ever would while speaking and usually end up with mini-essays even for relatively straightforward ideas.

This is two-pronged, partly because I enjoy writing and expressing myself through it more than I do speaking, but it’s mostly because I’m obsessive about conveying nuances with as much precision as I can, especially in a medium as restrictive to conveyance as writing is (thinking about not having non-verbal and other purely contextual cues at my disposal).

It’s not like I intentionally bring out the expensive words just to flaunt my vocabulary (I even have issues with being perceived as pretentious), it’s just that some things simply require the extra precision when expressing their full complexity.

P.S.: Jesus Christ…

I wholeheartedly believe nothing is lost yet! We’re still around, we’re still full-on “seditious” (from the perspective of Big Bucks McOildrill), we can do this!

But, yes, we do need an Underground Railroad type network for now…

It’s not young-you’s fault, they had us all hooked on that potential. And it 100% had and still has that potential, it’s just that the wrong people are calling the shots.

Tell you what, I’ll go back with you and we can punch the ones who ruined the internet!

If you’re referring to the data models we have now (as in, not AGI), it’s a solid no for a whole host of reasons.

As it is, it is not intelligent. It is capable of structuring immense datasets and identifying patterns throughout said datasets, but it is incapable of comprehending them at a conceptual level. Even if it can mimic the verbal patterns of context, nuance, humour, sarcasm, irony and even coded speech, it is not capable of understanding any of them. It is not an intelligence as we know and understand it, it’s just a really, really complex math equation.

As it is, all AI is still primarily run by a human consciousness. It cannot decide for itself what to do, it has to be pre-programmed. This means that any biases the human programming said AI might have will be transferred to the program itself given the immensity of data it is meant to process, so you’re right back at human fallibility. At best, contemporary AI is to manual moderation what a chainsaw is to chopping down trees with an axe - just an implement to aid humans in doing exactly what they did before, but maybe faster. That’s it.

Duly noted and you are very right! I looked up a couple of simple exercises beforehand as I’m really not keen on getting a herniated disk or something.

From what I’ve seen, as long as it’s nothing fancy like advanced calisthenics and power training, the exercises are straightforward and easy to grasp.

I second this as a non-sporty person. I bought a couple of barbells (15kg apiece) for use at home and 20-30 minutes of just messing around with them daily has solved so many joint aches, it’s almost ridiculous…

First off, I am genuinely happy to hear that you’ve managed to find some stability and that you have loving souls around you! I wish you and everyone you love nothing but the best! 🤗

Second, as related to my hedonistic nihilism… well… not quite:))

I have started to accept a bit of hedonism in my life for mental health reasons in the past years (I’ve been raised as a tool, not as a human being), but I’m not nihilistic. I don’t stress out about how long I have and the magnitude of my actions anymore, sure, but I am passionate about what there is. I love life (maybe even too much at times), I love my passions and interests, I love the wonders of existence, and I believe it’s ultimately awesome that we’re here to see the unfolding of the Universe. I also hate how bad we’ve made things for ourselves and the amount of injustice and inequality makes me sadder and angrier than I’ve ever been. And I will keep trying until I die to contribute whatever I can to shifting humanity back on a reasonable and empathetic trajectory.

I’ve been doing the 9-to-5 ever since I got out of Uni and managed to build a liveable career out of failing upward (I take full advantage of my intuition). I managed to squeeze into the housing market before prices started exploding here as well and own my own hole in the ground (we’re about 20 years behind America in terms of socio-economic trajectory, but we’re starting to speedrun the degradation, it seems), haven’t taken a proper vacation since 2011 (more than a week and actually going somewhere other than my living room), etc., etc.

I used to worry about everything, I used to carry the pressure of being a good little worker ant, of being the best specimen possible, keeping my mouth shut and working my ass off. And all I got for it is high blood pressure, profound loneliness, Meniere’s disease and teeth which I’ve chewed half to shit, and I’m barely in my mid 30s. Had my first (and only, so far) heart attack at 26.

The lockdowns gave me the context I needed to snap out of it. Had the privilege of working from home (QA guy) and spent the entire lockdown pretty much alone in my apartment. And I kept thinking about things, and realised the pain I caused myself for basically no damned reason, just because we’re forced to play this stupid little game of Capitalism since the moment we’re squeezed out into the world. I actually sort of died back then. At least a part of me did, the part which held any and all concern for trying to fit into the system. Then I could finally see my core values again, the things which were important to me. And keeping track of time really wasn’t on that list, to the point where I stopped celebrating or even caring about my birthday, or New Year’s.

Now I just try to live by my principles. I’ll give it my best shot at being myself and following my values, but I won’t have a psychotic break at the end if I don’t manage to be the uber-me, nor do I care that life will kill me sooner or later. Nearly did that myself through trying to live it by the terms set by society. It’s impossible to unsee the Absurd once it smacks you in the face.

Edit: some corrections.

Granted, not something which works for everyone. But I don’t think such a shift in mentality is a privilege necessarily.

I mean, the whole point of my perspective now is that it really doesn’t matter what day, or month, or year it is, all that matters is what happens. Why count the time which passes and try to guess the time that’s left, when in spite of having the perfect organism in terms of physiological functions and immunity, one could still get smeared by a bus like paint on a canvas tomorrow.

I will concede that the fact that I do not fear death whatsoever also helps immensely. Literally no pressure, just flinging my best guess at it and dealing with whatever happens as a result.

Life really does feel a lot different once you stop counting minutes. I’m honestly very grateful for this paradigm shift!

I honestly stopped caring about time as we use it (I’d need to think for a minute if someone asked me what day it is) since the Pandemic. Never had much use for time other than scheduling, but the Pandemic seems to have completely cut me off from it.

Now, I just exist. Que sera, sera.

I used to greet clothing store mannequins and thought that people who didn’t were very rude.

Because we forget to buy condoms.