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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3371 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 14, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Really great points, thank you for providing forward looking insights into this.

Maybe because I’ve spent 20+ years trying to make friends (ever since I was a conscious child, for example), but they haven’t lasted (no fault of theirs, maybe some of mine), and of course relationships are almost a joke in how little they mean since one day someone can wake up and just decide they don’t find you worth their time anymore, I feel like I have some experience with being alone.

The intellectual stimulation at work is so intense that it leaves almost no space for worrying about anything interpersonal. So was graduate school, but you’re right that the landscape of work is ever changing and it’s quite likely that in 5 years I might get replaced by some AI.

You’ve given me a lot to think about, I appreciate that.

Autists hyper focusing on work they enjoy is how we get extreme specialists that sometimes make contributions to the pool of human knowledge. In that sense, I encourage it from a utilitarian perspective.

I was always too far-sighted to have ever risked having lost the plot when it came to getting too caught up in work. Some people think I’m this “workaholic” type guy, but the reality of things couldn’t be further from the truth. Unless my friends or family are prompted to organize something and they ask me to play a part in putting it together, I would much rather spend my time doing something else. Unless you’re say a Hasidic Jew who believes as part of the foundation for his religious vocation that it’s his job to seek God in everything he does (including work and labor more generally), I’ve always looked at the older cohort who retires and then makes frequent appearances or returns to work as having nothing better to do outside of his job. If that were me, you would never see me again and I would never return. I’m too engrossed in my own pursuits and interests and family life to find enjoyment in that.

People also tend not to appreciate what’s good in their life and what they have until they’ve lost it. Fortunately that was never me.

Not appreciating the good things in one's life is probably a common mistake, and a mistake that I've made many times. Sometimes it's useful to reflect on the bad points in one's life to regain perspective on the things that are actually going very well by relative comparison.

The first polycarbonate to survive anodization and rival the tensile strength of magnesium will be invented by a lonely heart

Very likely. To paraphrase the immortal Zapp Brannigan, "Some of you autists may die alone, but that's a price I'm willing to pay."

Might be confusing it for some of his other bangers.

“It was simply a matter of outsmarting them. You see, killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shut down.”

"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission."

I stand corrected!

That's Lord Farquaad.

I heard that in Lieutenant's Kif's voice.

relationships are almost a joke in how little they mean since one day someone can wake up and just decide they don’t find you worth their time anymore

What does it mean when somebody claims to be female, but describes an archetypal, rite-of-passage experience of men?

It may be too hot a take for this board, but I would say it means women aren’t actually foreign agitators with incomprehensible experiences.

There are, of course, other possibilities.

And maybe the Moon is actually made of cheese. I would still consider other possibilities before concluding that the moon rock sex scandal was a cover-up for a rat infestation.

Only interpersonal romantic relationships, friendships aren’t like that. They’re a slow drift towards irrelevancy but you can recover them.

I'm OBVIOUSLY referring to the romantic relationship moment of having the female half inevitably proclaim "I'm not haaaappy" with little to no prior indication, which is recognizable to any man with experience.

Consider the most obsequious, autistic man you know and then imagine him as a woman. ANNOYING!

Any unattractive or ordinary-looking person could have such a realization after being dumped by an attractive person, regardless of gender.

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