210813-whatevers

while discussing the moderation of online communities a friend observed the similarities to video game mechanics, for example, the rush to defeat a whatever before it splits into two whatevers. (the analogy being, garbage attracts garbage.) but the second comparison transended the original topic: a frequent boss battle pattern is the slow/big/enduring whatever that rapidly and continuously generates smaller flimsy whatevers to occupy your attention, the challenge being that the situation will not end until the big whatever is gone.

considering the state of humankind. even though we may think we've identified a (or the) big whatever, we're perpetually overwhelmed by the small whatevers which on an individual scale appear quite large. and the big whatever is so huge it blocks out the sky: it's just the entire backdrop, so in a sense it becomes invisible.

tehn@nnnnnnnn.co