Comments | bennj: Contemplative and Rambling

bennj

Contemplative and Rambling

Apr 27, 2003 23:09

As I was IMming at Robin, who was too busy doing her hum paper / avoiding her hum paper to notice, LJ is very much a different kind of Time Suck from the others out there: the Shmack, the video games, chasing each other with things made out of duct tape both large and small. Already, LJ seems to be a place where one can talk about feelings. This ( Read more... )

Comments 9

ziqueenmab April 28 2003, 01:30:22 UTC

I want to talk to people and listen to people. I want a conversation to go on for hours into the night talking about home or family or happiness or truth or religion without dissolving into something about definitions or maps from r-n to who gives a crap.

Hey, sign me up for one of those.

lucasmembrane April 28 2003, 01:58:01 UTC

You are not a minority of one. Sometime soon, like as soon as you're free and up for it, we oughta reschedule that Starbucks meeting I missed.

More to be said, but I should sleep. If I can't sleep, maybe I'll come back and say it.

lucasmembrane April 28 2003, 21:13:22 UTC

I agree that there isn't enough discussion of life and emotions and philosophy. Or rather, there is quite a bit, but it's all moved behind closed doors. There's this gung-ho science mentality, as you mentioned, and I think people start to think that others won't respect them, or even that they're bad people, if they have thoughts beyond their field. That's not true in every circle, and it hasn't always been true in the greater East community, but it seems to be now.

There's also the persistent cult of invincibility. Nobody here is willing to admit that they have problems, doubts, fears, emotions at all. It's a sign of weakness. We're supposed to be robots, right? Amazing science machines, able to balance reactions, analyze circuits, evaluate surface integrals, and code an OS, all over breakfast. It's bullshit, but the mentality is there ( ... )