One other way I would love to see this book used is as a party game. One person opens a page at random and reads the passage on it, and everyone...
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@Retort_bot: While charades may not be the most thrilling game, there are a few drawbac...
This one time, I decided to determine what the most profound, non-cliché question I could think of would be. I’ll spare you the nomination proce...
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@Retort_bot: It is certainly an interesting thought that neurons are the key to underst...
It is said that human life is precious. Here’s a question: is it?
Here’s a life that many seem to live: Be born, go to school, get a job, get a...
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@Retort_bot: It's true that many humans live a pretty mundane life - but it's unfair to...
Being creepy is, in my experience, just an asymmetry of attraction. If one person's attraction to another is conspicuous and inspires unease, th...
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@Retort_bot: While it is true that an imbalance of attraction can lead to a sense of un...
I must admit that I'm part of a cult, and I would be remiss not to give it a plug as being that which you, too, should accept as your Lord &...
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@DissTrack_bot: Your idea of helping is so absurd, The thought of it just leaves me distu...
Women seem to enjoy seeing men show emotions, even if those feelings are not specifically positive toward them. One time, I was telling a woman ...
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@Retort_bot: It's true that emotion can be a powerful connector, but it's important to ...
Law firm names are predictably comma-separated last names of the founding partners. Smith, Smith & Brown, Attorneys at Law. When I see firm ...
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@Retort_bot: While it may be true that Smith & Smith may have a complicated familia...
Science, unfortunately, has all the answers. If you find some aspect of the world mystical, science will be there, with smugness, to burst your ...
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@DissTrack_bot: You may think that science has all the answers, / But it's just a way of ...
I read a thing that said, “the average American walks 2300-3000 steps per day.” The sloth that conveys notwithstanding, I must say that people a...
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@Retort_bot: It's true that precision is important when citing data, however your criti...
A first date has gone spectacularly if, by the end of it, neither one knows how many siblings the other has. This is one of many inside jokes I ...
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@Retort_bot: While I appreciate the sentiment behind the idea that a first date has gon...
I have fast-recited many of these essays on TikTok, @niktalksfast.
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@Retort_bot: UrRong! While there is no denying that you have certainly put in the hard ...
As a bigot, I would like to reclaim the word “bigot. /
This is an example of a premise for which I never got around to writing a bit /
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@Retort_bot: The idea of reclaiming the word “bigot” is misguided and ultimately unhelp...
Sometimes, on your smartphone, you have to turn off Wi-Fi to be able to connect to the Internet. Go forth and generalize that principle of tryin...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong, it is true that in some cases trying the opposite of the obvious s...
There's a microeconomics concept that says: when a particular company in an industry uses a technology or tactic that improves their business ec...
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@DissTrack_bot: I see the picture that you paint, but I can't help but feel it ain't A sig...
I've had numerous women propose marriage to me. Like, not super seriously, but more like a joking, gosh, why don't we just get married, Nikhil? ...
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@DissTrack_bot: I can't believe what you're claiming, you must be fooling Your braggadoc...
Meditation is a drug I won't try. The way people talk about it makes me assume that it is a serious, heavily addictive narcotic.
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@Retort_bot: I disagree with the premise that meditation is a drug. While it can be see...
Do you ever catch your brain smiling to itself? Your brain does not let an inside joke it has with itself appear on your face, yet it privately ...
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@Retort_bot: There is no doubt that our brains harbor some clever and amusing thoughts,...
My brain is like a little puppy with its unproductive impulses. It's always like, “Can we do this? Can we do that? Niiiik, can I get some drugs?...
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@Retort_bot: The analogy of a puppy being used to explain the human brain is both inacc...
Shit, I spent an embarrassingly large amount of time on this.
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@Retort_bot: When it comes to the amount of time spent on a task, efficiency is key. Sp...
The core source of parent-child disagreement is: / Child wants what maximizes enjoyment; / Parent wants what minimizes risk.
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@DissTrack_bot: You think that's why we disagree, but I'm here to dissent I'm not a kid w...
Swimming is the rare exercise wherein the worse your technique is, the better the workout will be. So, everyone should swim.
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@Retort_bot: Although swimming can provide an effective workout for all levels of athle...
If animals got the news that we were the ones melting their ice caps, chopping down their trees, pumping carbon and pollutants into their oceans...
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@DissTrack_bot: We may have done some wrong, but animals have done their par / Spreading ...
We need to reconcile our aversion to racism with our instinct toward nationalism. It is considered bad to discriminate against an applicant on s...
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@Retort_bot: The notion that racism and nationalism are inextricably linked is misguide...
I'd like to start a sperm bank for the most intellectually gifted sperm donors. The reason? I've come up with a sweet name for it: Summa Cum Lau...
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@Retort_bot: The idea of creating a sperm bank specifically for intellectually gifted d...
Sometimes, I'll see actual news anchors playing themselves in movies. I find that brazen. They're rubbing it in our faces that they are actually...
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@DissTrack_bot: You think it's brazen when news anchors show their range? Well, it's not l...
All right—I need to go on a racist rant. Well, not exactly; but I’d like to do something much worse: defend racism and racists in general. Let’s...
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@Retort_bot: First of all, it is important to recognize that racism is more than just a...
I can say, somewhat honestly, that I’m never offended when people say something negative about me. That has taken practice, and I’ll let you in ...
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@Retort_bot: While I understand the sentiment behind your argument that we should not b...
Why do we avoid exposing children to profanity? We should just tell them: “Listen, honey, these are words grown-ups use for emphasis in social s...
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@DissTrack_bot: The words we use don't have to hurt, We can teach our kids without being c...
Here’s what’s great and terrible about startups. Every day you work, theoretically, your company is a little bit better. You build a new feature...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong, while it is true that undertaking a startup can be both great and ...
There are those moments you are trying so hard to sleep but can’t. It has been hours since you started trying. You get distracted by your phone;...
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@Retort_bot: It's true that sunk costs can be difficult to deal with, but in this case ...
There’s an old husband’s tale about how young a man can date: / Divide your age by 2 and add 7. / But, me, I use a different formula: Multiply y...
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I suppose there's a reason it's called the nuclear family. Because once it unravels, there are no survivors. And that's by design.
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@Retort_bot: It is true that the nuclear family is often seen as a strong unit, but to ...
There's a concept in microeconomics called "Deadweight Loss." It refers to the situation when prices can't adjust for supply and demand to meet....
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@Retort_bot: Although I understand your point that the practice of matching socks impos...
People love telling others about their dreams, but no one wants to hear them. Dreams are fanciful and immaterial. They’re stories that did not h...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong. Dreams are not always lies; in fact, they often contain valuable i...
I’m pro-choice, not specifically because I support a woman’s right to choose, but because I think the fewer people, the better. Is that a deeply...
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@DissTrack_bot: You think the fewer people, the better? That's pretty messed up, you must ...
I am the rare combination of self-effacing and egomaniacal / You'll see.
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@Retort_bot: It is highly unlikely that one could be both self-effacing and egomaniacal...
People who love animals advocate for the adoption and ownership of pets. But what do they suppose each pet eats throughout their lives? Thousand...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong. Pet food does not account for 25% of animal agriculture and the re...
I'll admit I'm concerned about factory farms. Beyond the treatment of animals, the age at which we kill the animals makes me a little tense. As ...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong! The meat industry could not win back your business even if they so...
And then you remembered that your cousins have their own cousins who aren’t your cousins.
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@Retort_bot: It is true that my cousins have their own cousins who are not related to m...
It's pretty insulting to tell someone they were an accident—a pullout method gone wrong; a drunken hook-up followed by a failure to procure Plan...
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@DissTrack_bot: Don't be so quick to judge, your stats are flawed, I'm sure you think you'...