[alephnerd]

How much of this is moral panic?

Like, objectively, how much overlap is there between a NEET who is addicted to waifus and dating sims in Persona and AI Friend or NSFW Apps?

My hunch is the overlap is significant, and at that point the problem is WHY you have those kinds of NEETs and how to resolve it, not the technology or medium itself.

Western Civil libertarian fundamentalists like much of HN would not appreciate the kinds of solutions East Asian societies like China and South Korea used (cracking down on games; limit hours spent gaming; and SEVERE social ostracism and disgust)

Edit: because subtext is apparently difficult

My point is, automatically jumping to "ban XYZ" does not solve the core problem that causes obsessive tendencies to manifest

[morkalork]

It's digging the isolation hole deeper and faster than before. Kind of like how everyone thought heroin was a problem in 90s but now we've got fentanyl and the addiction problem is a million times worse.

[jollyllama]

>would not appreciate the kinds of solutions East Asian societies like China and South Korea used

Did it work? My understanding is there's no shortage of the individuals mentioned.

[morkalork]

Looking at the birth rates in Japan/Korea and yeah... they're not doing so hot.

[alephnerd]

That's my point. Hence why I call it a "moral panic"

[constantcrying]

Isn't it all the same phenomenon? People are choosing a fake reality and are disengaging from other people.

>How much of this is moral panic?

100%, but just because it is a panic over morals does not mean it is real. When the religious right feared that same sex marriage and weed was going to get legalized and that children were going to listen to music which rejected all christian values, they were 100% right.

This is about value judgments. Do you value interacting with other people more than, your comfortable fake reality?

[mvdtnz]

There really seems to be a subset of HNers who believe that if a problem existed before then it doesn't matter if a new technology increases the scale of the problem. It's such a strange point of view.

[psunavy03]

> Western Civil libertarian fundamentalists like much of HN would not appreciate the kinds of solutions East Asian societies like China and South Korea used (cracking down on games; limit hours spent gaming; and SEVERE social ostracism and disgust)

This is not evidence that that kind of a solution is necessary or even acceptable. I mean, the whole idea that there's some kind of "special East Asian wisdom" is itself pretty racist.

People have the right to be weirdos as long as they're not hurting anyone.

[thfuran]

One person being a weirdo doesn't hurt anyone, but civilization will literally collapse if everyone decides to be a shut-in and exit the labor force.

[rangestransform]

There’s no special East Asian wisdom, but it’s hard to deny that they have a higher appetite for authoritarianism in daily life than the west

[mrbungie]

Ok, so the logical leap here I assume is "(part of) Eastern Philosophy prioritizes community vs individualism" => "There is higher appetite for authoritarianism in the East".

Enough HN for today.

[alephnerd]

> People have the right to be weirdos as long as they're not hurting anyone

That's my point. The symptom (becoming obsessed with virtual relationships) shouldn't be the end goal of remediation. If someone is doing so due to issues in their life, then those need to be solved.

> the whole idea that there's some kind of "special East Asian wisdom" is itself pretty racist.

It's not a comment on "special East Asian wisdom". Social and legal norms in much of Asia is Communitarian and Legalistic in nature.