chanson

I fucking hate this "holiday." It seems as though it was designed to make those of us who aren't in relationships feel awful in proportion to how long we've been alone.

But that doesn't mean he's not onto something.

Scott Adams, The End of Humanity (The Dilbert Blog):

They say that many technologies owe their existence to sex. Porn drove the cost of VCRs down, for example. And porn was the early fuel for the growth of the Internet. I see one more area where this phenomenon is likely to repeat: robots.

Have you heard about the company that’s making realistic life-sized sex dolls? They cost up to $10,000. I haven’t seen one in person (really, I haven’t) but they reportedly weigh as much as a real person and are eerily lifelike.

I've said since the late 1990s — ever since I first learned of them, really — that the first fully ambulatory, fully interactive androids would come from RealDoll or a company creating something similar. And though I had seen Cherry 2000 at the time, it was well before I'd even heard of Chobits. (Note for anyone who cares — very minor spoilers follow.)

Chobits depicts fairly well what a world where might wind up looking like — especially in the book-within-the-book A City With No People. The route it takes is a bit more circuitous than just sex robots, however; the robots in it are personal computers that are more personal assistants that eventually become the centers of their users' lives.

Not like that would ever happen. No way, no how...

People sometimes suggest that I should go to church if I want to meet women. Some people even say I should go despite not being superstitious. But I've sometimes wondered — what should stop me from getting into the superstition racket myself?

So, are there any how-to guides or handbooks I could read that would help me get started, come up with a convincing messianic narrative, grow my initial flock of believers, and so on?

I'm thinking of something like Edward Luttwak's Coup d'Etat (1979, Harvard University Press) but for superstitious movements. Surely somebody who's done it has taken notes and turned them into a how-to guide.

jwz, Groupware Bad:

"How will this software get my users laid" should be on the minds of anyone writing social software (and these days, almost all software is social software).

I like to think of this as the fundamental theorem of social software.

A contest! Of course! (Girls with Slingshots)

I will only be in my twenties for one more month!

Great, another addiction! This time to 電車男 (Densha Otoko, Train Man), the drama based on the (claimed to be true, but not 100% verified) love story between a beautiful woman and an otaku who stood up to the drunk who was harassing her and got his advice for how to approach her on an Internet forum.

When I read about this Social Puppet technology on Slashdot, my first thought was "Wow, that would be really useful in a dating sim!"

And in fact, I think it really would be useful for learning the social behavior around flirtation and attraction. Particularly for people like me who have more than a bit of difficulty interpreting some aspects of it, and who have an extremely hard time practicing it in the real world.

At least learning to recognize and respond appropriately to signs of interest compared to signs of friendliness would be a huge step forward...

Questionable Content is going to be my new obsession, at least until I'm caught up on it. This despite knowing next to none of the bands whose names they're always dropping.

The First Law of Sexual Dynamics

In a given dispute, the female is more likely to be correct.

The Second Law of Sexual Dynamics

If you think a girl is attracted to you, you are wrong.

Thanks to Emilie for the pointer!

I have now read all of Mac Hall. Past and present. With a detour through a couple years of Goats as well.

Just a couple of thoughts herewith:

What about "philosophically-compatible?"

And it's not just about that. Well, OK, it's entirely about that. Fuck yeah it's about that. But why would you ever stop? I mean, come on! Why? Ever?

(By the way, I'm good. I'm very, very good. I come with multiple references who would testify to that if they were even marginally willing to share.)

chrismaverick wrote an essay a year and a half ago titled "BS in Mackology: The science of flirting" with a bunch of entertaining & useful advice.

Go Mav!

Another bit of worthwhile reading on the same topic is How to Become an Alpha Male in 18 Easy Lessons in Halley's Comment. Halley's posted parts one through five so far.