To ???, pt 7

One reason not to share this idea goes like this:

If you shared this idea, you would gain more fans. You would also gain more detractors, but maybe this would be because of people thinking that other people help or praise you more than you deserve, so they try to give balance, and the same logic works the other way: people can support someone more exactly because they see detractors.

Your fans think that you deserve to be a happy person with a good life. For most people, being in a relationship is important. If you wanted to be a relationship with me, your fans would think that it was important that you could be in a relationship with me.

Suppose that I was lying. Your fans would have a negative opinion of me.

It's always possible that I was lying. Even if I wasn't lying, there are circumstances where I would want you to think that I was lying, as with any drama. Suppose you wanted to have the best outcome for me even if it was possible that I was lying. If you had to choose between these possibilities,

1) You share the idea; maybe I was lying and your fans hate me, or

2) Someone else shares the idea. You have fewer fans who could possibly hate me

you might logically conclude that the second is better for me.

"Everything is important. Nothing is important. Do you identify with one of these views. Do you identify with both of them"

https://daughterofankh.blogspot.com/2009/06/bananas.html

(I think this was from an email I sent to Laura, which would have been on my military email account)

Do you really think it would be better if Yara shared this idea, than if you shared it?

___

Update 21 May 2026, 05:00

Poll: Which do you think would be better for your teeth? Brushing once a day with toothpaste that costs $10, or brushing twice a day with toothpaste that costs $1?

Poll: Who do you think is more likely to be dishonest? A stupid person, or a smart person?

Poll: Which is more important? Deciding who will be in power, or deciding what policy changes need to happen after those people are in power?

ask AI: short story about a group of lions who are being hunted relentlessly by humans. Explores the emotions of the lions as they suffer losses, and the planning that leads to their eventual victory.

Same, but giraffes instead of lions.

Same, but kangaroos instead of lions.

Poll: do you know why Japan attacked the US in World War II?

Poll: Criminals who believe that there is a serious problem in society are motivated to commit crimes. Would you rather the criminals target people who have become famous for their accomplishments, or ordinary people?

Poll: Would you rather move the appearance of all humans 20% closer to society's unrealistic ideal of male body and face shape, or 20% closer to society's unrealistic ideal of female body and face shape?

To Imane, pt 87

A weird dream that I will describe, even though it's not interesting. I was a homeless person who sneaked or snuck into your house either to talk to your or just wanting somewhere to sleep. Several normal people were already there. I saw you waking up on a couch but did not try to talk to you. People discussed kicking me out but I claimed that I would leave if you wanted me to. I pretended to sleep so that would people would not disturb me; someone poked my face and pushed my upper lip down to try to show that I was awake, but found that doing so made my face look cuter and inoffensive and was therefore ineffective in convincing other people that I should be kicked out. Through a window I saw you doing a photoshoot, in which you did various poses, but I was not impressed.

Maybe I left on my own volition; after being outside, I somehow ended up in a restaurant. I looked for evidence that the food was free, until I finally spotted some prices which showed that it was not free. Someone accused me of having eaten their food of like fried beans, which clearly had been eaten by someone. I asked what the person who had eaten their food looked like, and they said it was a person wearing a pink shirt, and I pointed out that I was not wearing a pink shirt. I was going to mention that in the duffel bag I was carrying was a pink shirt (in real life I do have a faded pink shirt, that says United States Army Est (star) 1775 and has a 24-cm tear under one arm that renders it unusable) but the conversation never got to that point. They were saying something to me that I don't remember, because I got distracted by the fact that they were using sign language. I tried to point out that I didn't know sign language and they started to explain what the word sign meant, or something.

I wouldn't have woken up if I didn't have something to say, which was this:

I wonder, if you can invent things to make yourself happy, can you invent things to make yourself unhappy too... how often does this happen?

How often do we remember it?

China

"You saved me and took care of me. You helped me make my body and you wanted to kill me. I'll remember all of that."

【FULL | Eng Sub】上古魔尊重回三界，与菜鸟花仙意外换身，一段啼笑皆非的旷世“奇”恋来咯！《苍兰诀》EP1-24 合集【欢迎订阅 爱奇艺动漫站】

To Imane, pt 85

Some boring polls that no one will ever make because they're boring (unless they're so generic that they've already been made, like the last question). The second question feels like it might be similar to a poll or question I already asked or suggested. There might have been another question before the third question which I forgot while trying to write down three questions at once. The topic is people reaching conclusions from limited information.

Poll: Is it expected that Greta Thunberg would fail in her efforts to prevent climate change because she is acting contrary to the interests of evil rich people?

Poll: Does it benefit a typical person to believe that it's worth expending effort to try to fix problems in the world?

Poll: Do you think you have a good understanding from watching fiction of how extremely smart people who don't have typical 'smart person' jobs act and what their values are, despite your limited real-life contact with extremely smart people?

Poll: Do you think society rewards you for being confident?

To Imane, pt 84

"Smart people can make conclusions from limited information."

Trying to make this post as uninteresting as possible. A movie that was playing (The Parent Trap) reminded me of how, probably in late 2005, I asked Mei if her ears were pierced, and she said they were. This was completely unrelated to how in 2007, I wanted to send some earrings to Mei's older sister, but was unable to as Mei wouldn't provide an address, and so several months later I ended up buying similarly-priced earrings for my Japanese language teacher (who is Chinese).

Mei was probably able to infer that I was prepared to act like it was better if her ears were not pierced, if that had been her response. If she had asked questions about me, it could have had a similar outcome.

I don't have any memories of noticing someone's earrings in real life. I do remember noticing when someone was wearing false eyelashes, in late 2012, as well as the time when I noticed that someone had green eyes, also in 2012.

When I made this post about a hypothetical situation, I was thinking about situations like the one shown in the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, when the main character asks his wife if she loves him, and she is evasive until concluding that perhaps she does.

Supernormal stimuli: just as birds cannot control what they perceive to be the ideal egg, humans cannot control what they instinctively think of as the best of several possibilities.

If this post fails to be uninteresting, I ask that you not share this idea.

To Imane, pt 83

I hope this doesn't count as something interesting.

Poll: "Around the world, X% of people are suffering symptoms that would qualify as depression. What do you think would happen to this percentage if the global unemployment rate were halved, wars stopped happening, and we finally did something about climate change?"

X would increase by a lot

X would increase slightly

X would stay the same

X would decrease slightly

X would decrease by a lot

I thought of another poll as well, but if I say more, it might increase the probability that what I say could be seen as interesting.

To Imane, pt 82

Yesterday I did a search for, "I shall not say or do anything interesting until Imane shares the idea". I don't consider this post to be interesting.

Greta posted a video on Instagram of Alaa Salah encouraging a crowd to protest against Sudan's government in 2019. She also posted a Story of the film Strejkarna. Letterboxd lists Greta in the cast of the film.

Yesterday I had started reading the book, The Ogre Downstairs, randomly selected from my third-oldest sister's book collection. I had believed it to be the book that is actually titled Archer's Goon until I had read over a page of it. I stopped reading it when I got to page 52, which I will just quote in its entirety up to the relevant passage as I have nothing better to do:

as he showed them in, laughed too and made the same sort of jokes in reply. Caspar stared rather because he had hardly ever seen Douglas laugh before, and because Douglas had changed his clothes and looked just as grown up as his friends.

"Coffee and so on set out on the kitchen table, Douglas," said Sally.

"Thanks," Douglas replied, obviously too busy showing his friends into the dining room to hear what Sally had said.

The Ogre was standing in the doorway of the sitting room with the grim look that he usually reserved for Johnny or Caspar. "I'm beginning to regret this already," he said. "Where did Douglas get those awful clothes?"

"I got them for him," said Sally, a trifle guiltily. "He seemed to have grown out of everything else."

"Are they fashionable or something?" asked the Ogre.

"Very," said Sally.

"I feared as much," said the Ogre, and went and turned the television on.

Since the Ogre was clearly in his stormiest mood, Caspar dared not do anything but sit quietly over a map of South America, trying to decide on a Geography project. The Ogre gave him several irritated looks, but he said nothing. The television produced the Ogre's favourite kind of programme for him — the kind in which Officials and Ministers explained that the country was in a considerable state of crisis, but that they were doing this, that and the other thing to cure it. Caspar bit back several yawns of boredom and wondered how his mother could stand it.