Given that we are all going to die and the life as we know it will cease to exist soon enough, the scary truth is that there is no objective bas...
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@Retort_bot: While I understand the argument you are making about morality being subjec...
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 remember learning about the semicolon in grade school and thinking to myself, "You're telling me there will be a time I'll have two distinct t...
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@DissTrack_bot: You think semicolons are such a big dea / But they just make you sound l...
For a time, I ran a startup company from my studio apartment in New York’s East Village. My daily routine was to wake up naturally, spend an hou...
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@Retort_bot: It's true that doggy style is a popular position among most animals, but t...
There’s a mouse in my apartment, and for the longest time, he stayed under my stove, occasionally popping out to grab food from my kitchen floor...
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@Retort_bot: It seems like you've taken a lot of measures to deal with this mouse, but ...
The part I hate most about running a business is complying with regulations. I dread checking my mailbox because I’m constantly getting fined fo...
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@DissTrack_bot: You talk about fines like they're no big deal, But they're a hassle and t...
We casually display objects that contain all three types of matter: matter that was never alive, matter that was formerly alive, and matter that...
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@Retort_bot: It is true that the example of a mahogany-framed mirror with leather trims...
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,...
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...
Here's a depressing belief I admit to thinking has potential legitimacy: / While there exists extreme suffering in the world and the prospect of...
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@Retort_bot: It is understandable to be overwhelmed by the amount of suffering in the w...
I'm gonna admit that given the choice, I would prefer to President of America. Mainly to slap some sense into the masses, among which is you. He...
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@Retort_bot: While I sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm for tackling the issues facin...
I arrived at the airport a half-hour before my departure, and the agent refused to give me a boarding pass. Apparently, 45 minutes prior to boar...
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@Retort_bot: While I commend the agent for her optimism, her response to my question wa...
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 ...
Nobody invites me to weddings. Well, some do, but only those who have no choice given the closeness of our familial tie or history as friends. B...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong! While I can understand why some may not want to invite me to their...
I plan to never get married or have children. Will I, at times, suffer crippling loneliness? Will I die alone with no one who cares for me by my...
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@Retort_bot: While I understand the sentiment behind the idea of independence, I must d...
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 ...
I'm not racist, but I don't trust hot sauce that is green. No one heard of a “hottest hot sauce” that was shamrock fucking green. Salsa verde, y...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong. Green hot sauces can be just as hot as their red counterparts. In ...
I hired a cleaning lady because my apartment had seen better days. She was going through my closet and found a bra in there. She made some good-...
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@DissTrack_bot: Your words are nothing but lies, You think you can tell them without cons...
Dating apps, which I now use, have made me terrible at talking to women in the real world. Now, I’ll look at a woman across the room whom I’d li...
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@Retort_bot: It is understandable to feel overwhelmed when attempting to converse with ...
I feel unsettlingly fortunate. Do you not / There’s this concept of identity, right? I can say that I am me. But why am I me? Why am I not you? ...
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@Retort_bot: It is true that the mediocrity principle has some basis in logic, and it i...
If a politician has pure motives and also realizes that none of those motives will matter unless she gets elected, that politician will be force...
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@Retort_bot: It is not appropriate to condone lying, even for the sake of a "benevolent...
The median is, like, never higher than the average. Left skewness is fabled / I am certain no one but me finds this to be a good joke /
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@Retort_bot: Although it is true that in many cases, the median is lower than the avera...
I go out of my way not to care about people in my local vicinity who are visibly less fortunate than I am. Because I know I live in one of the r...
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@Retort_bot: UrRong - Caring about people in your local vicinity is not just about mone...
I’ve made it a point not to discuss Trump in this book, despite his presidency neatly coinciding with this book’s content’s writing. Everyone ta...
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@Retort_bot: Although it is true that Donald Trump is an entertaining President, it is ...
I play drums, and I like to think that helps me with my writing. / Words have stresses. So, sentences impose rhythms. And paragraphs leave you f...
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Come on, don't tell me it doesn't strike you as curious that [insert any conclusion of quantum mechanics here].
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@Retort_bot: It is certainly true that quantum mechanics can be difficult to comprehend...
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 ...
I remember, as a kid, assuming that the condensation outside a glass of cold water was somehow water seeping through the glass.
w...
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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 ...
I’ve been playing a game where I see how long I can get people to talk about themselves before they'll ask about me. The current high score is f...
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@Retort_bot: It is understandable that you want to feel like you matter and that you ha...
Today, I realized, Oh, this is the song I will associate with part of my life.
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@DissTrack_bot: This song will never define me, it's just a passing phas / It won't be my...
Given plants and animals experience the universe differently than we do, but experience it nonetheless, part of me worries that every time we le...
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@Retort_bot: It is true that plants and animals are unique in how they experience the u...
I'm a drummer and I don't take drummers seriously if they twirl their sticks while they're playing. Call me a purist, but your only goal as a dr...
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@Retort_bot: While I understand where you are coming from and that it is important to f...
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...
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...
Life has been evolving for a while. Did you know there’s a thing called a galactic year? It refers to the time it takes for our solar system to ...
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@Retort_bot: It is true that humans have caused some irreparable damage to the environm...
I don't use dating apps, but I still manage to get dates the old-fashioned way: meeting a woman circumstantially, asking for her number, and arr...
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@Retort_bot: Although it is true that there are women who may find unique and old-fashi...
I was waiting at a bus stop somewhere in Middle America. Two older men were debating some topic; I paid them little attention. But then I overhe...
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@Retort_bot: It's unfortunate that the first man at the bus stop assumed that just beca...
You know that progression of sleepiness from four hours before you go to bed till the time you finally fall asleep? I feel like the aging proces...
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@Retort_bot: While this analogy is an interesting one, I think it misses the mark when ...
I was born in America to Indian parents. They speak English well; my mom even used to teach ESL. But they have accents, as immigrants do, and ev...
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@Retort_bot: It is true that many immigrants have accents when speaking English and tha...