<story><title>Writing is a single-player game</title><url>https://www.otherlife.co/singleplayer/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>cs137</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t disagree with the general sentiment, but as someone who has faced literal attempts on his life for revealing unpleasant truths about powerful people and has PTSD, I find myself cautious in fully accepting the optimism. And I&amp;#x27;m someone who had a pretty big platform in the 2010s.&lt;p&gt;The problem with &amp;quot;speaking truth to power&amp;quot; is that the shitbags in power already know the truth (that they&amp;#x27;re shitbags, and that in a just world they would be torn down and humiliated, if not destroyed). What you do by &amp;quot;speaking truth&amp;quot; is reveal to them that you also know this. By doing so, you make yourself dangerous to them. Sometimes, this is what you want. Sometimes, it is not. It is not an easy, one-size-fits-all decision. Your enemies, but also your friends, start to see you as an instrument of war.&lt;p&gt;Also, with regard to &amp;quot;algorithmic demons&amp;quot;... it&amp;#x27;s not &amp;quot;algorithms&amp;quot; that are the problem. It&amp;#x27;s (a) the complete lack of transparency, (b) that the algorithms are often tailored toward objectives other than content quality (which leads to gaming, hence the perceived need for opacity), and (c) that the data now available about us is invariably used against us by bad actors (and that a lack of influence &amp;#x2F; platform will also be used against us, so I don&amp;#x27;t know if there&amp;#x27;s a way to win).&lt;p&gt;The algorithms themselves aren&amp;#x27;t so bad; what&amp;#x27;s worse is that these companies often slip shit into the algorithms that punishes people or ideas they dislike, and of course (a) this is completely unregulated, (b) it&amp;#x27;s impossible to prove, and (c) you&amp;#x27;ll often damage your reputation if you point it out (since you sound identical to a crazy person who failed organically and is lashing out at &amp;quot;the algorithm&amp;quot; with unprovable assertions).</text></comment>
<story><title>Writing is a single-player game</title><url>https://www.otherlife.co/singleplayer/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>antux</author><text>As someone who is written over 300 articles on my blog I can relate to the feeling of wondering if my words even matter or make difference. Feeling like they don&amp;#x27;t matter is the easiest way to quit.&lt;p&gt;Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve come to terms that it doesn&amp;#x27;t matter if it helps people or not. What keeps me writing is all the interesting thoughts and ideas I want to share. It&amp;#x27;s a way to express what&amp;#x27;s inside of me to the few people that want to listen.&lt;p&gt;If you can make writing so engaging to you to where you want to play it like a video game, you&amp;#x27;ve cracked the code to being a writer.</text></comment>