are most thoughts useful or useless

[Funnygurl555]

i've been debating this internally for a while. my opinion is that most thoughts are useless and therefore shouldn't be outputted unless you wanna waste your or other people's time

but i'm often described as someone who is deliberate with their words or actions (unless i'm... unhinged), so i'm not normal, and i don't think my opinion is popularly held.

for argument's sake, let's exclude perfunctory thoughts like "it's time to take a shit" or "my alarm went off"

perhaps thoughts about ideas is a better way to phrase things but words are hard

[DaBackpack]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

you'd have to define "useful"

at any rate it doesn't seem helpful to make sweeping generalizations when the answers seem to be context-dependent

[Funnygurl555]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

i dunno, like, valuable. will vocalizing/acting out this thought benefit you or others in any way

and i get this is a super broad question, but idk how to ask a more specific q without changing the question

edit: for example that one dude who made that video into the descent into the alt right, i wouldn't have fallen into that rabbit hole because i think a lot of youtube commentators post "useless" content, so i'd just steer clear of that stuff altogether

[flashflash account]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

the first problem I see is that we don't really have singular "thoughts" even though we pretend we do
but I think useless anyway

[Funnygurl555]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

the first problem I see is that we don't really have singular "thoughts" even though we pretend we do
but I think useless anyway

vote for my game 2 more times you have 7 min i wanna host the next twg

[Dinglesberry]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

"my opinion is that most thoughts are useless and therefore shouldn't be outputted unless you wanna waste your or other people's time"

ok but then you need to define how useful your or others time is.. id argue saying irrelevant things is useless more because you waste peoples effort to hear and think about them but i feel someone being able to hear something and go "damn thats dumb" is a good skill so if anything by rambling you help other people

[devonin]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

most thoughts are useless and therefore shouldn't be outputted unless you wanna waste your or other people's time

I think my position on this has less to do with deciding if the thoughts themselves have worth or value, but instead on whether the context in which they are being shared has worth or value.

Just informing people of your thoughts and opinions randomly? Probably a waste of time. They didn't ask for your thoughts, they aren't in a receptive state of mind to be swayed by or even informed by your thoughts.

When they are requested, or in a context where sharing them is welcomed? Then it depends on the thoughts :P

[Hakulyte]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

The problem is that we don't know what's valuable for others vs what's valuable for us.

You have to figure out what both sides are interested into in order to facilitate saying something valuable.

Someone can say something that at first glance could appear irrelevant and then later on become useful as well.

It's not so clear imo.

[Funnygurl555]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

itt: fg asks a bad question

when was your birthday haku?

[awein999]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

if we read the minds of the very smartest people in the world the majority of their thoughts would be gibberish. but they are capable of having a lot of them very quickly, come up with questions, and find/reach conclusions faster than most

[Hakulyte]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

itt: fg asks a bad question

when was your birthday haku?

Option A) September 8th
Option B) Just look up Hateandhatred's birthday, it's the same as mine.
Option C) What's the point of your question ?

I guess providing multiple answers is an unorthodox way to approach questions, but I can't tell your intentions here so; it makes sense to me to open up possibilities.

The problem remains that the group don't necessarily care about the above and finding something everyone cares about is unlikely.

if we read the minds of the very smartest people in the world the majority of their thoughts would be gibberish. but they are capable of having a lot of them very quickly, come up with questions, and find/reach conclusions faster than most

I think it's more about where you can go with your thoughts than having thoughts in the first place. You can be wrong and lost for a while, but it's sometimes worth it when there's a purpose.

[Funnygurl555]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

wow im very unobservant. sorry haku. i just didnt notice you turned 30

i get my flaw here is assuming that a thing's value is fixed and contextually independent. but i feel like there has to be a way to discuss this, even if imprecisely (i.e. there should be a generally agreed upon value for some things/thoughts/ideas)

i also agree with haku's response to awein

[devonin]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

You're ignoring the value of a thought being impacted by the relevance to the situation. Well-researched, clearly articulated facts about good tax theory are useful. Not when somebody is trying to change a car tire.

[Funnygurl555]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

You're ignoring the value of a thought being impacted by the relevance to the situation. Well-researched, clearly articulated facts about good tax theory are useful. Not when somebody is trying to change a car tire.

i don't understand. isn't this a part of context?

[Moria]

Re: are most thoughts useful or useless

Yes / No

Take your pick, they're both as wrong as the other