kaim.bsky.social

Anyhow, your questions are thoughtful and I hope you keep asking them

It's like a clique where someone is deemed disliked: you signal being part of the clique by joining in the negativity. The person - or in this case the idea - can swiftly become all but irrelevant

So when you see something you disagree with, it feels like more personal an issue - and something where your own personal social status is at stake

To expand on that: I think it's tempting to reach for the explanation of political polarization or other broad cultural trends to explain the vitriol of social media. I doubt that's entirely wrong, but you also have what feels like a personal relationship with who you read and the other commenters

I love your questions! It's honestly quite silly that with social media writ large you have to signal that your beliefs are shared with your audience in every post before being able to explore an idea - I suspect it's an outgrowth of the parasocial nature of social media?

@bretdevereaux.bsky.social has fascinating stuff to say re: the returns to conquest vs the returns to investment before and after industrialization. Pre-industrialization, conquest really did deliver wealth, but it pales in comparison to eg a new factory (which might well be destroyed in war!)