Robert Samarji

Fintech co-founder, DJ, knob’ed.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@owenjonesjourno Sure, if you lack critical thinking and are easily hooked by emotional statements.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@AntonioEscudero @itzadetunji1 It literally does all of those things.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

Anyone else’s deployments down on @vercel?

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@anshnanda I agree. God forbid you might actually learn something.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@okaris @theo @supabase @clerk Unless I’m missing something, everything you described is possible with Supabase? You can interact with it via its API and can build whatever logic/UI you want around it.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@marclou Great place. From Cap Ferret down to San Sebastián is probably my favourite part of Europe.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@DrRJWebb @RupertLowe10 Perhaps translation could be paid for? Doesn’t even have to cover the cost, could merely be subsidised so as to be affordable, but not abused. Might encourage non-speakers to learn to save on the small cost.

[Nicholas Drummond @nicholadrummond]

This is the best summary of the current geopolitical situation I have seen. Sir Alex Younger was head of MI6 between 2014 and 2020. Really worth watching.

[The Inbetweeners Fans @InbetweenrsFans]

Top 5 most underrated Inbetweeners jokes 🤣

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@webdevcody So, I use Cursor, it’s wickedly helpful but gets a lot wrong. For advanced cases, e.g. where mobile view displays different data and hides data behind modals etc, I doubt it’ll be able to handle that anytime soon. Even then, may be faster to code it than prompt wrangling.

[Richard Ngo @RichardMCNgo]

Why is society so vulnerable to far-left ideas? One key reason: it’s hard to counter weaponized empathy. When actions are taken under the banner of a long-suffering group, that makes it much more difficult to challenge the worldview behind them. And far-left activists do skew female, suggesting that empathy plays a significant role.

The problem with empathy, though, is that it’s closely related to tribalism. We see this for example in studies of oxytocin, which stimulates empathy towards the ingroup but also aggression towards the outgroup (e.g. https://t.co/i0OV2Z8Oz3, https://t.co/4zVMio02B5). Historically, communist ideology transmuted empathy for the worst-off into hatred for the best-off, with extremely bloody results. So by default we shouldn’t just ask someone who their empathy is *for*, but also who their empathy is *against*.

In the case of the far left, their empathy is against western civilization. You can see this in the burning of flags, and the constant op-eds problematizing every aspect of western culture. But you can also see it by asking which characteristics people feel comfortable expressing pride about. Over the last decade it became less and less acceptable to be proud of any identity that doesn’t correspond to a maximally-oppressed group. Attacking people’s pride in their identities is an incredibly effective way of undermining those identities wholesale - a form of psychological warfare. (One explanation of why Silicon Valley is moving right is that the left makes it much harder to express pride in a tech-related identity.)

If this is the attack vector, what are the antibodies we need as a society? Firstly, I think, just having the concepts above helps. Being able to put into words that your identity is under psychological attack helps you brace against it. It’s okay to be proud of any immutable trait you have (and most of the mutable ones too). Being driven by negative motivations is a strategy that reliably backfires, and so imposing guilt and shame on yourself won’t help anyone: https://t.co/0SBi64Pt4b

Secondly, though, you should view the far left as carriers of a memeplex which replicates by inducing empathetic suffering in them in strategic ways. Usually it’s good to empathize with a friend when they feel bad. But in this case, the suffering is inherently linked to their political goals; in a sense, they feel bad *because* it makes you shift into their frame, thereby making the memeplex more contagious.

They’re (mostly) not doing this deliberately, though. So while it’s possible to view them as psychologically attacking you personally, my best guess is that the healthiest response is to view them as another victim of the *memeplex* that’s attacking you. Your empathy can be *for* them while being *against* far-leftism, which after all is not just trying to attack you but also inducing self-loathing in its own carriers. And so another antibody which I hope spreads throughout society is: when someone is trying to make you hate yourself or others, you can always just decide not to.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

This has aged rather too well...
https://t.co/XavP3MRJME

[PRESENCE @TazerBlack]

Even the dogs dem held two two whine at Carnival 😂

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

@RichardBrownEC @REWearmouth The Hulk, I seem to remember them being called.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

Incredible documentary on BBC 2 right now - Once Upon a Time in Iraq.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

I'm losing brain cells watching #tenable

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

Hi @JamesTCobbler, would love to speak with you about my locksmithing startup, https://t.co/5WDhy8BkoA. If you find it interesting, please drop me a message.

[RT UK @RTUKnews]

Benidorm + Coronavirus = Managerial mayhem!

As Spain becomes the fourth most infected nation in the world… Some Brits are doing their best to avoid virus precautions and carry on with their holiday as normal.

[Robert Samarji @RobertSamarji]

Very entertaining interview with #JenniferArcuri on Boris and his johnson. Oops, *Boris Johnson. Good job ITV #BorisJohnson