Hacker News Reader

Society is an illusion; "people" is not a singular entity.

Imagine a loaf of sliced bread: so long as the pieces are fairly consistent and sound, it can resemble a loaf.

If one or more of the pieces is unsound, irregular in shape or consistency, the illusion of a singular loaf breaks.

It isn't the nature of "people", it is the imperfect nature of the metaphor of "people" itself.

Silly and pointless reductionism. You assign meaning to each slice, but not to the loaf, even though the same logic applies to the "illusion" of a slice? It's turtles all the way down, and the concept of society is as real and as important as any of the other layers.

To add to the point you were making: an "individual" who's been starting at a screen doing nothing but typing aphorisms for a week straight will look visibly unhealthy to their friends.

That change in countenance reveals all the hidden social connections on which that person necessarily relies for their mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com