I would not advise you to act as neurotypical but to seek out your own kind. That might not be easily found in collected pools of humans but to take a leaf out of the Major's book: 'The net is vast and infinite.'

How many of us have mentioned an obscure topic in passing on HN, and then been surprised by an erudite observation? Of course this does not always prevail, but it happens with enough frequency that I am convinced for each person there are companions.

To be less academic, if there are conventions for furries, then there are places in the world for you too!

It is frequently noted that geeks do much better at themed events with a purpose than at generic social outings. Less night club, more book club. The more object oriented the activity, the easier geeks get along. If you've been to a Hackerspace you'll know there is a wide range of interesting people at such places.

P.S. Every line cook I've known does claim to be in their own screaming hell.

"Indeed, the expectation of reciprocity can both reduce and even undermine altruism."

Surely expectation of reciprocity would make the reciprocal loop stronger, not weaker.

For instance (reflecting on your examples) it should be obvious to us that the word 'crime' meant something much narrower several thousand (or hundred) years ago.

https://i.redditmedia.com/LkKBNe1NW51Wh-8nLSTRdQtTha2sV1yY46...

I blame the television and the media, they have sunk the population into a hypnotic stupor.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/199300...

It is not even subtle and a good portion of us are pretending it's about lifestyle choices.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-buildin...

Sayer | If AGI ran your space station/life. http://geeklyinc.com/category/sayer/

EOS-10 | Space Sci-fi comedy, great acting. http://www.eos10.com/

Wolf 359 | Space Sci-fi comedy with well executed high drama. http://www.wolf359.fm/

Limetown | unusual conspiracy thriller. http://www.limetownstories.com

Alba Salix | Fantasy comedy. http://www.albasalix.com/

Wooden Overcoats | Competitive undertaking. http://www.woodenovercoats.com/

Tanis | Conspiracy mystery thriller. http://www.tanispodcast.com/

The Black Tapes | Creepy ghost stories. http://theblacktapespodcast.com

Especially Noteworthy:

Our Fair City | my favorite, a work of genius, the highest production values, actually better than the BBC.

We're Alive | entertaining zombie drama horror, terrific use of sound. http://www.werealive.com/

Genre Specific (usually short stories):

Escape Pod | science fiction. http://escapepod.org/ Pod Castle | fantasy. http://podcastle.org/ Pseudo Pod | horror. http://pseudopod.org/

I find the best new material from Radio Drama Revival

http://www.radiodramarevival.com/

These are also good leads:

The Audio Drama Directory | http://theaudiodramadirectory.com/sciencefiction/

The Parsec Awards | http://www.parsecawards.com/

Non-fiction, most of the usual suspects.

ABC's Future Tense 99% Invisible Hardcore History Joe Rogan (guest specific) Radiolab Robots Podcast NPR's Planet Money Green Building Advisor The Building Performance podcast The Tiny Life podcast (on Tiny Homes)

I also listen to Lovecraft when I want to get to sleep (/s).

Lovecratian horror is not what most people think of when they think of horror. It is more existential.

Sebastian Orr does a great narration:

http://www.ourfaircity.com/2011/12/the-rats-in-the-walls-pt-.... http://www.ourfaircity.com/2012/01/part-two/

Inspired by Lovecraft, A Colder War by Charlie Stross is also a favorite.

So the flashes in the sky could be enormous depth charges, thrown blind into the abyss to reduce narrow probability counts or ferret out the hidden home worlds.

Since an attack can be total, and come from anywhere, and you can never know if you fully succeeded, the peoples of Glurk-42 had a nervous disposition.

This is why the spectre of dead civilizations like Rome haunt us to this day.

I see what you're saying but am still not sure the traits you've described are separable from the psychology of men and women. I think the author would have been more balanced had she compared and contrasted 4chan with its opposite, tumblr.

There might be men on tumblr and women on 4chan but it always struck me that tumblr was somehow psychologically female and 4chan was intrinsically male. If you did a genomic survey of their users you would surely find the allele frequency was very different.

4chan can be pathologically cruel while tumblr exhibits every impulse a Victorian doctor would associate with hysteria. It's also interesting how 4chan is self aware they are 'raiding' (for the greater lulz), which I think is the instinct of hunter related genes, while tumblr is ground zero for spreading information about 'Outrage of the Week' and does not consider its participants as part of a mob action even while urging 'somebody do something'. These are very gendered characteristics.

Men and women respond to 'being thrown out by the tribe' differently. To be thrown under the bus is a bigger deal for a woman than a man. That is why tumblr's infamous SJW culture is so often purging their ranks of people who don't totally conform.

On the other side 4chan's raiding parties do indeed target outgroups from their tribe. It is not weird that alt-right has a 'spiritual' connection to 4chan. I don't like the term 'hate group' because it has lost meaningfulness but if they are then it is a broad church where the real requirement that validates you as a member is the extent of how much you dislike the outgroup. In fact you could be a member of the outgroup as long as you despise them enough!

I don't think 4chan or tumblr are evil or good. I think they are simply our human nature. The words are strongly overloaded because of the last western war but I also believe 4chan/tumblr are the embryonic form of the mass psychology that generated the political ideologies of communism and fascism. These are intrinsic parts of our makeup and we cannot really escape them. I treat them as collective survival instincts. Present society is concerned with the elimination of one or both, which is like trying to lift your feet from off the ground with your hands. If we genuinely want a positive future, we ought to be thinking about harnessing these instincts, not obliterating them. Right person, right place.

We have frequently shifting national moods so why is it a surprise our foreign policy behaves as if it has a multiple personality disorder? If one was a cynic they might suggest this was a subversive policy for one system to cause systemic instability outside of its borders.