5 Comments
User's avatar
L. Shaw Mitchell's avatar

The more I read the instructions to answer C the more I felt myself resisting. Questioning authority? Disagreeable?

Non-conformist? Contrarian? Anti-authoritarian? I suppose I could think of other applicable descriptors.

Expand full comment
Peter Davies's avatar

I’ve had such great mileage out of the monkey joke over the years.

Expand full comment
John Wills Lloyd's avatar

Great baby-on-the-bus story!

Expand full comment
Linda S Fox's avatar

I cannot agree with you about Twitter. It was always such a random, ego-driven, and quirky app.

What REALLY changed is the loss of a hell of a lot of bots.

The bots are what gave you the feeling of having a following, one that stroked your ego, lifted your spirits, and provided interesting tweets.

Twitter, like all social media, is filled with a diverse and strange collection of people who, for the short duration of a Tweet, have the attention of the crowd. You can rant and pontificate, and the number of your followers keeps growing.

I seldom find anyone on Twitter (Or any other social media, other than Facebook, where I am, years after high school, in contact with classmates. And a few long-lost family members, who I am delighted to have access to.)

Until AI is much farther along in terms of imitating human speech, writing, and interpersonal interactions, Substack seems to be a RELATIVELY low-bot place.

Expand full comment
Anders Emretsson's avatar

I wish you’d bring people like Burkeman and Pizarro with you over to Bluesky.

Expand full comment