Basement Whatever

Lots of reasons, but the biggest one is that being around people and dealing with their various hang ups is part of being human, and we forget that at our own peril. But also because when you smile at the world, the world smiles back.

The author chose to become kind after a lifetime of bullying, which led them to believe they liked people even more, and I can’t help but detect it’s also because they know what it’s like to not be wanted, and want to stop that from happening to someone else.

The author laments the cultural shift giving people permission to walk away from difficult people and relationships, partly because the destination is to safe, unexamined worlds filled with AI and artificial experiences.

I had to decide to like people. My life didn’t make me do it by default. It was something I had to think about, and choose to do. I’m not being clumsy in my choice of words here, by the way: I think that liking someone, or a group of people, or the concept of humanity, is something you do. It’s an active choice.

There’s a lot to learn in this piece, about bullying, about becoming kind, and about deterring what relationship we want with technology. Read it all here.