

The Outsiders (1987) - wolfgke
http://www.worlddreambank.org/O/OUTSIDRS.HTM

======
zoba
It is known that humans require the company of other human beings or else bad
things start happening (think solitary confinement: anxiety, depression,
cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, and psychosis).

I wonder to what extent it is important to just be around other humans,
versus, be around other humans who are similar to us. For the super unique, I
imagine it can feel incredibly lonely. It doesn't have to be limited to
intelligence, it can be cultural, linguistic, etc. The article even says "He
is saying that they are a different kind of mind, _a different kind of human
being._ "

It is like humans have a built in mainstream-ification device which inherently
punishes those who stand too far from the middle. What is particularly
interesting is how good our tools are at connecting people with similar
interests. The internet is helping isolated individuals feel like they are
part of a community, good or bad.

~~~
spb
I feel it's important to keep that "good or bad" part in mind. As humanity's
drifting away from the external influences that "punish those who stand too
far from the middle", we need to start internalizing some of those checks to
make sure that the way we're standing far from the middle is a _good_ thing,
and not just being an asshole.

~~~
sanoli
Since today someone said SMBC is overtaking XKCD as the comic reference king
on HN(1), here's another:

[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2832#comic](http://www.smbc-
comics.com/index.php?id=2832#comic)

(1) news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8320741

------
simonster
I wonder how one differentiates the possibility that exceptional individuals
are alienated from others around them by their exceptionality from the
possibility that exceptional mental ability is intrinsically accompanied
either directly by social difficulties or by social development that is less
resilient to negative aspects in one's upbringing. I suspect that both of
these happen to some degree, but they seem difficult to disentangle.

