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flâneur: a great word.

when I see all these people walking around staring at their phones, I want to slap them with that word.

Whatever it is on your phone, it'll wait. Whatever's happening in front of you: that will not wait, and it'll never come again.



That's at least superficially also true when I'm sitting on the toilet.

Every sunset is unique, and so is every bowel movement.


and your point is...?


> Whatever it is on your phone, it'll wait. Whatever's happening in front of you: that will not wait, and it'll never come again.

Just because something is unique and ephemeral doesn't mean it's worth your attention.


You: I don't need to watch this sunset, there'll be better ones.

Reaper: Not for you, though. Come with me, please. No need to bring anything.


That's missing my point.

I don't need to look at this bowl movement because I get no aesthetic pleasure from looking at bowl movements, even though each one is unique and I'll never get a chance to see that one again.


I think if you can't even spell the word, we're done here.


Autocorrect?


Before phones people had ways to bury their noses still. Newspapers, for example. Let's not pretend that phones are some great big problem. Embrace it. Let people escape their daily life a bit if they want.


Even if I agree with the sentiment. I think it’s mislead.

Newspaper are finite. Phone are a bottomless pit.

Newspapers are text and images, phone are multimedia devices running software made to keep your attention.

Etc, etc. All that lead to a “wolf in sheep clothing” conclusion on those pocket computer.


An easy test with AI: analyze 1000's of crowd scenes from 1970 (probably easy for Manhattan streets) to see what percentage were walking while looking at some print material vs. scenes from now with smartphones.

Your assertion is it'll be the same. I'm willing to take that bet.


Generally people who are bored are, themselves, boring.


and your point is...?


I guess there's no point, provided you see no problem in being boring.




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