A time is coming when men will be mad online, and when they see someone who is not mad online, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad online; you are not like us'
I've often wondered why people flip out when minor inconveniences happen to them in a vehicle. Your explanation makes perfect sense, especially when extended to someone's phone. It's their bubble, their safe space.
The link is similar in many respects to that between humans and hand tools. Studies have found that we have a pretty good ability to consider tools as extensions of ourselves. Try holding a stick, then extending it as close to a wall as possible without touching it. Very simple task even without practice
For the same reason we (well some of us) are able to easily parallel park a car by extending our proprioception sense over it, we may get pissed when someone else cuts us off in one
Spot-on analysis! This all started with the imposition of the Facebook Newsfeed. Everyone hated it; everyone wanted to be able to opt out of the immediate & unfiltered barrage of other people's info upon logging on to FB. But no. They forced it on us. People said, "No, it's feels intrusive -- I don't want to have all this external info blarted at me the minute I log on to my personal space to organize and administer my chosen personal communication." They said, "Screw you! We control your stimuli now!"
Excellent article and points as usual, but I suspect this is a younger person phenomenon. I’m probably still too cavalier online, but I see it as a public permanent record. Heck, I worry about private messages between myself and my best friend. I know if the panopticon chose to look at me the way the really have the ability to I’ll be put in the bad people camp.
I've often wondered why I seldom react as others do to driving issues. Even when I'm driving, others in the car react with such anger. My response generally is brake, slow down, turn, don't let the bastard hit me. It's so much calmer for me.
How do we cope with this? Do we just ride the wave and act as if the car/phone is our home? Or is it better to acknowledge this and not take the environment for granted?
Others obviously are not aware of this and will act as predicted, by the way.
And if you buy a Tesla, then your car is actually a large phone.
I had the strange sensation a little while ago while on a conference call that for all intents and purposes the Star Trek/Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon sci-fi space world is already here. We may not be out in physical intergalactic space, but neither were Captain Kirk and his crew. Instead, they were mostly in their living room, video-conferencing with outside entities. Are Klingons really aliens? Or are they just brown people with body mods and an Insta filter on? Occasionally they'd beam down onto a planet to investigate, or do a supply run. The main characters always made it back, but examples were made of the red shirts to demonstrate the dangers of the universe outside the mega-screen armchair dwelling.
That's how post-pandemic life feels now. Spend enough time in isolation, and getting groceries or visiting the DMV becomes a perilous mission. You put on uniforms, masks, and gear you don't normally use, step into unfamiliar environments filled with beings who don't look like you, and engage in customs that seem foreign because you rarely practice them. Your normal exposure to the rest of the planet comes filtered through the media, so there's an underlying sense you could get stabbed or shot at any moment. And you are at a distinct disadvantage compared to the "outside people" for whom the spaces that aren't your house are their natural habitat.
You are out there, alone, trying to coerce these aliens into abiding by the laws of your home, following the dictates of common decency that aren't so common anymore since you barely know anybody besides yourself. And so, while your feet might still be grounded, metaphysically you are floating.
A while ago I dreamt there was an app in the phone that took you to a shopping mall and everyone could go there to instances of it like in MMORPGs you could organize going to the same instance as going to one with your friend(s). In that dream the phone was the car in a more literal sense as a means of transportation. I was taken aback by the technology because the teleportation means were like purple particles and I started wondering how it worked and my friend told me to stop thinking about it. This doesn't have any meaning I just thought it was a funny dream.
This is a good insight. I always wondered why the cognitive dissonance in people during a conversation was so much greater online than in person.
There's also a certain expectation of conformity when people enter your home. Every encounter must be like uninvited, unruly guests or, worse, intruders. I imagine this is much stronger for people who willfully avoid conversation with people different from them. It must feel like they didn't consent to the interaction.
Twitter, in particular, has people talking to each other as if the conversation is 1-1 when it's actually open to anyone who comes across for it. I used to troll people after searching for key phrases that people were likely to utter. It was very convenient and allowed me to knock out my trolling in record time. The problem is that it was TOO effective.
As someone who had neither a car nor a phone growing up this is spot on, I literally remember thinking why would people even have phones we are all here right now and then I realized recently it was just so they could retreat to a private place and zone out or talk shit they couldn't say out loud. Ditto for cars. I of course did not know the rules of the road, and would say shit out loud.
Also, I am a terrible driver. Love your work Randy.
So this is why borderlines on TikTok can feel comfortable making fools of themselves, whereas before all the craziness was behind closed doors. They're in their [home] but it's got transparent walls. It's like social media isn't just a misnomer, but precisely antithetical to sociability. Nice reference to St Anthony in the subtitle, btw.
This is an excellent perspective. I have given this topic quite a bit of thought but I did not consider this angle. Very nice. The car and now the "virtual world" is is an extension of the home, the primal social property right. The very structure of it... implies consent into the personal world and thoughts of the individual. By extension, a voluntary forfeiture of privacy. As you said, all very much on purpose.
Also, I believe deep down people know they lack any real control in their lives in the real world and this manifests itself in a variety of ways. Instead of changing their behaviors ( organizing differently politically as well as their own personal alchemy) they hide behind their little fences (virtual social boxes) and bark at people passing by. Dogs will do this, but then when faced with their intruder without the fence they become quiet and docile. People are like this, almost a form of virtual schizophrenia, where they feel protected, perhaps emboldened by their "home " , they will lash out to seek control. All along the while they would never replicate that behavior if face to face with a real adversary. It is no wonder why dissociative disorders are on the rise, which is useful to social engineers. If you can get someone to become unmoored and disassociated, they can be corralled into "current things" and social movements rather easily. The pied piper pulls humans around with limbic triggers and promises to quench their loneliness.
The computer is much less like this; it has a different effect on you. Using Twitter on the desk screen is different from on the phone. And reading a real book is better than both. The phone is the ultimate pinnacle of technology, the natural evolution. Adam wore clothes when he left the garden; a layer of death to protect you from the outside. Cain built the first city; more layers of death for protection, a layer of social clothing. The home is this, an inside and an outside, layers of death. And the phone, more death, to protect from what?
My father always taught me to mentally distance myself from my car. "It's only a tool", he said. I only thought of it in the sense that I shouldn't be a loud asshole at 3 AM but now I understand that it's a deeper thing. Thank you Egg Report
I've often wondered why people flip out when minor inconveniences happen to them in a vehicle. Your explanation makes perfect sense, especially when extended to someone's phone. It's their bubble, their safe space.
The link is similar in many respects to that between humans and hand tools. Studies have found that we have a pretty good ability to consider tools as extensions of ourselves. Try holding a stick, then extending it as close to a wall as possible without touching it. Very simple task even without practice
For the same reason we (well some of us) are able to easily parallel park a car by extending our proprioception sense over it, we may get pissed when someone else cuts us off in one
Spot-on analysis! This all started with the imposition of the Facebook Newsfeed. Everyone hated it; everyone wanted to be able to opt out of the immediate & unfiltered barrage of other people's info upon logging on to FB. But no. They forced it on us. People said, "No, it's feels intrusive -- I don't want to have all this external info blarted at me the minute I log on to my personal space to organize and administer my chosen personal communication." They said, "Screw you! We control your stimuli now!"
...and we accepted it.
Excellent article and points as usual, but I suspect this is a younger person phenomenon. I’m probably still too cavalier online, but I see it as a public permanent record. Heck, I worry about private messages between myself and my best friend. I know if the panopticon chose to look at me the way the really have the ability to I’ll be put in the bad people camp.
I've often wondered why I seldom react as others do to driving issues. Even when I'm driving, others in the car react with such anger. My response generally is brake, slow down, turn, don't let the bastard hit me. It's so much calmer for me.
How do we cope with this? Do we just ride the wave and act as if the car/phone is our home? Or is it better to acknowledge this and not take the environment for granted?
Others obviously are not aware of this and will act as predicted, by the way.
Personally I just try to be very careful in traffic, and try to focus on how dangerous it is to be moving that fast and not be complacent
Imagine bad drivers as squirreljaks & you as rapejak
And if you buy a Tesla, then your car is actually a large phone.
I had the strange sensation a little while ago while on a conference call that for all intents and purposes the Star Trek/Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon sci-fi space world is already here. We may not be out in physical intergalactic space, but neither were Captain Kirk and his crew. Instead, they were mostly in their living room, video-conferencing with outside entities. Are Klingons really aliens? Or are they just brown people with body mods and an Insta filter on? Occasionally they'd beam down onto a planet to investigate, or do a supply run. The main characters always made it back, but examples were made of the red shirts to demonstrate the dangers of the universe outside the mega-screen armchair dwelling.
That's how post-pandemic life feels now. Spend enough time in isolation, and getting groceries or visiting the DMV becomes a perilous mission. You put on uniforms, masks, and gear you don't normally use, step into unfamiliar environments filled with beings who don't look like you, and engage in customs that seem foreign because you rarely practice them. Your normal exposure to the rest of the planet comes filtered through the media, so there's an underlying sense you could get stabbed or shot at any moment. And you are at a distinct disadvantage compared to the "outside people" for whom the spaces that aren't your house are their natural habitat.
You are out there, alone, trying to coerce these aliens into abiding by the laws of your home, following the dictates of common decency that aren't so common anymore since you barely know anybody besides yourself. And so, while your feet might still be grounded, metaphysically you are floating.
A while ago I dreamt there was an app in the phone that took you to a shopping mall and everyone could go there to instances of it like in MMORPGs you could organize going to the same instance as going to one with your friend(s). In that dream the phone was the car in a more literal sense as a means of transportation. I was taken aback by the technology because the teleportation means were like purple particles and I started wondering how it worked and my friend told me to stop thinking about it. This doesn't have any meaning I just thought it was a funny dream.
this makes me want to change a lot of concepts and behaviors of how i interact online. made me understand a lot. cheers!
This is a good insight. I always wondered why the cognitive dissonance in people during a conversation was so much greater online than in person.
There's also a certain expectation of conformity when people enter your home. Every encounter must be like uninvited, unruly guests or, worse, intruders. I imagine this is much stronger for people who willfully avoid conversation with people different from them. It must feel like they didn't consent to the interaction.
Twitter, in particular, has people talking to each other as if the conversation is 1-1 when it's actually open to anyone who comes across for it. I used to troll people after searching for key phrases that people were likely to utter. It was very convenient and allowed me to knock out my trolling in record time. The problem is that it was TOO effective.
As someone who had neither a car nor a phone growing up this is spot on, I literally remember thinking why would people even have phones we are all here right now and then I realized recently it was just so they could retreat to a private place and zone out or talk shit they couldn't say out loud. Ditto for cars. I of course did not know the rules of the road, and would say shit out loud.
Also, I am a terrible driver. Love your work Randy.
So this is why borderlines on TikTok can feel comfortable making fools of themselves, whereas before all the craziness was behind closed doors. They're in their [home] but it's got transparent walls. It's like social media isn't just a misnomer, but precisely antithetical to sociability. Nice reference to St Anthony in the subtitle, btw.
This is an excellent perspective. I have given this topic quite a bit of thought but I did not consider this angle. Very nice. The car and now the "virtual world" is is an extension of the home, the primal social property right. The very structure of it... implies consent into the personal world and thoughts of the individual. By extension, a voluntary forfeiture of privacy. As you said, all very much on purpose.
Also, I believe deep down people know they lack any real control in their lives in the real world and this manifests itself in a variety of ways. Instead of changing their behaviors ( organizing differently politically as well as their own personal alchemy) they hide behind their little fences (virtual social boxes) and bark at people passing by. Dogs will do this, but then when faced with their intruder without the fence they become quiet and docile. People are like this, almost a form of virtual schizophrenia, where they feel protected, perhaps emboldened by their "home " , they will lash out to seek control. All along the while they would never replicate that behavior if face to face with a real adversary. It is no wonder why dissociative disorders are on the rise, which is useful to social engineers. If you can get someone to become unmoored and disassociated, they can be corralled into "current things" and social movements rather easily. The pied piper pulls humans around with limbic triggers and promises to quench their loneliness.
The computer is much less like this; it has a different effect on you. Using Twitter on the desk screen is different from on the phone. And reading a real book is better than both. The phone is the ultimate pinnacle of technology, the natural evolution. Adam wore clothes when he left the garden; a layer of death to protect you from the outside. Cain built the first city; more layers of death for protection, a layer of social clothing. The home is this, an inside and an outside, layers of death. And the phone, more death, to protect from what?
https://youtu.be/QtmLCK1keFI
My father always taught me to mentally distance myself from my car. "It's only a tool", he said. I only thought of it in the sense that I shouldn't be a loud asshole at 3 AM but now I understand that it's a deeper thing. Thank you Egg Report
Fantastic insight.
Toilet/bath can be real-private property inside private property taken over by spouse