Hive needs more weird people.
I don't mean crazy, or conspiracy theorists who believe in lizard people and hollow earth, though there is plenty of room for them too, and the discourse can be interesting. I mean people with personalities, people who do people things, but people things that most people don't do. Not stupid things like Jackass stunts, or that shit people do for attention on TikTok and YouTube. People who are good at what they do, or are willing to expose parts of their life that normally go unseen.
In a world where AI is increasingly dominating content creation and algorithms curate what we consume in order to maximize profit at our expense, proof of human is going to get increasing attention. There will be more ways developed to do this, but I also think that it is worth people and the platforms they use to encourage more human content, more human interaction.
Humans are amazing.
But, because we are having all of the content we consume provided for us showcasing only a very narrow band and within our interest silos, much of what people actually do is hidden away. And, the things that people do present, is all in an effort to gain attention, popularity, and trigger the algorithms to amplify the account, not the person. It is all about ad revenue, not human value.
We always get told to stop and smell the roses, to see the wonder in normal experience, to appreciate the small things, but is that what we are doing when we consume digital content through the endless scroll streams? I don't think so. The value of an image that used to tell a thousand words, is now close to zero, as so few stop long enough to actually absorb what they are seeing. Rather than quality, the platforms give the sense that quantity can make up for it - conveniently with an advert placed every five to ten posts, where even the posts are unlikely to be human-made these days.
They are catalogues.
But, I see Hive as different, even though many, many people treat it much like the trash mass media carousels of other platforms. How I see it is that Hive is a place where humans can show their humanity, and interact with other humans. A place where no one has to be a foremost expert, or compete with the publicity machines of stars, but can showcase their interests, their hobbies, their humanness.
Get their weird on.
Have you ever thought about what makes you unique? It is an interesting question to consider these days, because "unique" is a comparison to others, and it used to be pretty easy to be different enough to have value, because our communities were much smaller. But in a global digital environment populated with eight billion people, very few people are actually unique. At the DNA level, we all are, but at the personality, looks, skill, thought and every other level that matters to us, there is someone somewhere, that is very, very close to who we are - our doppleganger of sorts.
And not only that, most of us are never going to have a single trait or skill where we are "the best" at it globally. Yes, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, but we are mostly average at most of the things we do, and there can be only one best. The internet allows us to see the best and worst of human, but it discourages us from being ourselves.
Be yourself, and you will be compared to the best to undermine strengths, and the worst to highlight weaknesses.
But there is value in being yourself, even if it is selfish. Because if you try to be someone else, you will constantly fail, and you will constantly have the sense of living in someone else's body, never truly connecting with who you are, or how great you can be, with the potential you have. And, it shows.
The least interesting people are those who try to be someone they are not.
They are also probably the saddest, which might be why so many of the "influencers" end up with mental issues and a fair number of them commit suicide. There is a conflict between what they are, and who they portray themselves to be, and that creates a lot of psychological and emotional stress, which manifests in the body.
Rather than ridicule different, we should explore it.
This doesn't mean that everything that is different is good, that diversity itself is innately fantastic. But rather, we should spend some time investigating and understanding different perspectives of the environment, as there might be value in it. Even if there is no value, at least we will know and can move on to the next experiment.
As I see it, almost all speech should be free, with perhaps the exception of inciting violence. At the bare minimum, all opinions should be free to express, because then, no matter how outlandish or disgusting, they can be discussed. As I have said many times, I would rather have openly racist people I can talk with, than closeted racists who pretend they are not publicly. And, throughout the years, I have had many, many conversations with openly racist people. Good conversations, valuable conversations, conversations that have given me insight, and given them insight. I have also had conversations with people who didn't know they were racist, until they started exploring their assumptions.
Most of those people were not white.
I think on Hive, I am in a pretty unique position through my content, even though I said above that no one is really very unique. The reason is that the way I write can only come from the experiences that I have, which means that there is no one else who has had the same experiences as me. There are plenty of overlapping similarities for sure on individual aspects, but as a collected experience, no one. And, no AI can predict what I am going to create next, unless it knows what I am going to do, each interaction, and which of the thousands of tiny aspects that will trigger a thought will lead to the creative process.
Maybe one day, but not yet.
Every day I write, and it has been over 2000 days consecutively without a break, has been a proof of humanity, because it is an expression of my unique experience. It isn't the amalgamation of bits of content, it isn't an aggregator of topics based on what I have read from the news aggregators, it is my thoughts. And these thoughts are not visible for anyone else in this way, except for those who find it on Hive.
That has value.
At least, I believe it has value for an audience of humans. But, it might not have value for ad revenue models, nor at a corporation level that benefits from selling advertising space and market segmentations to influence the audience into buying into a product, or a concept. There is value for you, the consuming audience.
Humans.
You might find it weird, you might dislike it, you might not care for it, you might think it stupid, unintelligent, basic, sad, disgusting, or glorious. It doesn't matter - because you found it, you thought about it, you take away from it what you do. The value is generated in you, not in the content itself, but the filter of content coming from real experience seems to make a difference in what kinds of actions follow.
Stop reading guides about how to create better content, and just start creating content that represents you, all your strengths, weaknesses, quirks and whatever else you are willing to share with an audience and have them discuss it, judge it, be part of it, learn on it, and progress from it.
Speak. Grow. Discover your voice.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I am one of those who think that “we are all, without exception, weirdos”. The 21st century brought with it several changes and among them, I will only mention two: 1) the already known technological advances, and 2) free expression (gender, creed, …). The “weirdos” who were locked up in their own bubbles are now out in the open.
Social networks have been one of those advances in technology and communication that have allowed this large group of weirdos to really show what they are, how they feel. They are capable of ‘making fools of themselves’, as other human beings would say, but they have felt the freedom to do so.
All social networks have their attractions and attract a kind of “weirdo”. Every social network was designed to do just that. The main idea is that you are yourself and feel good, accepted and free in the network you have chosen to make your digital social life.
To each his own. If you feel good doing what you do and if what you do ‘makes you money’, as in HIVE, then keep doing it. “Feel free”, that's my motto.
Hmm
Maybe we are different😅😅
Some people copy trends on social media and are usually very interesting and fun to have on here.
That’s what I feel though but we have different views about it
Your text is really cool!
Congratulations!
It made me reflect on some things that we fail to notice in the rush of life.
That's Truth
Riches face mental issue
Nice post dear friend
That's what you took away from it?
Dumb ass comments man, so fucken many dumb ass comments these days.
Like, wtf are they thinking?
I'm sick of it and don't/won't react well to it.
Yes
A lot is happening around
Is like my favorite quotes
We’ve got amazing people who do great things here and we need more of them. I can see from your article that you didn’t like people who post various nonsense on social media
Those who chase clout and start finding some attentions that are not necessary
We’d be having more newbies very soon and I hope they turn out to be fantastic
Haha interesting entry. I realised I had NSFW settings on and hence 2 out of 3 posts didn't appear in my feed, thanks for putting up the links!
It's sad how some just mimic trends online. Being unique matters. This post makes me think about embracing my quirks. That's where true value lies. Hive definitely needs more weirdness 😂😂😂💯💯🥰
I think those who follow/copy the trends of other people on social media are the least interesting people.
Interesting though
But that habit is not good and allow here
I agree. No thought for themselves, just followers. Influencers on most social media seem to be people who follow with the loudest voices.
Bcoz people have tend to be popular or rich in a short way.
It's one of the things I adore about HIve - it's humanness. Sometimes we are frail, weak, petulant and grumpy. Sometimes we're creative, generous, open hearted, raw, intelligent and inspiring. Sometimes we're mundane and fallible. Sometimes we even do crap on about conspiracies and rub people up the wrong way. Here we are in all our crazy humanity. Bring on more of it indeed.
Being yourself is what sets us apart and why you need to remain unique being true to yourself and not doing things like writing posts you may think will interest others and not yourself. I honestly don't even know what normal is anymore and thought I did at one stage.
This is very inspiring and encouraging. I used to think that I should only work on food and travel posts, because those get the big votes. I don't travel much, and making those feel like such a chore. But because of these types of posts, and other unorthodox ones, I have decided to post more of the things I like.
WOW! I didn't even know Hive had built-in NSFW settings. I didn't even consider that a "dirty" side of the Hive platform exists. Dirty X/Twitter is crazy!
This is the best part for me. I enjoy commenting more than reading the article because it forces me to consider how the content makes me think and feel. Your articles are great at activating that sense of wonder and exploration that comes from reflection.
Open carry vs. Closed carry too, when it comes to weapons! Honesty is the best policy. Find you tribe, even if you all have complete shit opinions.
Ooops, never started! Doing alright with this new Battle of the Day bit. Still don't have a set schedule for it, but getting into a rhythm with content and voice. Next come some comments!
believing that we each create our own reality (i.e. lifetime experience), i wear the moniker “weird” as a badge of honor!
https://www.etymonline.com/word/weird
Hey hoe! Let's go! 😄