Social Media Overrepresents Freaks

Gurwinder Bhogal is a programmer and a writer. Gurwinder is one of my favourite X follows. He’s written yet another megathread exploring human nature, cognitive biases, mental models, status games, crowd behaviour and social media. It’s fantastic, and today we go through some of my favourites. Expect to learn what the Oxytocin paradox is, why anxiety is now the most common mental health condition in the world and why the Rumpelstiltskin Effect might be to blame, the reason why 20% and 40% of undergraduates at many elite American universities are now registered as disabled, what AI will do and make to best steal our attention, why 1% of users generate 99% of the content you see online, whether you’re the person who doesn’t know how to improve their life or someone who doesn’t know when to stop and much more…

Timestamps:

(0:00) Can Empathy Make You Cruel? (8:19) Does Diagnoses Actually Solve Anything? (20:09) Why So Many People Now Identify As Disabled (23:09) The Harmful Power of Slopaganda (25:34) Can Truth Survive the Information Overload? (33:00) Why Social Media Isn’t Real Life (36:41) The Rise of Red Pill Content (42:04) Can Stress Actually Make You Happier? (58:21) Do Standards Outweigh Capacity? (01:02:23) Why We Focus On Our Weaknesses (01:10:16) Is Main Character Syndrome Warping Reality? (01:17:28) Why You Should Argue Like Your Opponent Will Win (01:22:01) Will Everything Eventually Become Illegal? (01:24:46) The Hype Cycle of New Technology (01:31:32) Nature vs Nurture: What Really Shapes Us? (01:34:41) What Your Worldview Reveals About You (01:38:04) Is Optimistic Pessimism the Best Mindset? (01:43:29) Where to Check Out Gurwinder

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