crypto on Nostr: You started with the tone the moment you implied my replies were insincere and ...
You started with the tone the moment you implied my replies were insincere and started straw manning everything I said instead of taking it at face value. Since you are engaging in an actual topic let's put that in the past.
I explained extensively how I think it applies but maybe you thought I meant something else entirely so I will try again. Dunbar applies here because I have come to believe based on how humans operate and how they are breaking down in situations above Dunbar's number, especially due to things like depression and anxiety, that a once useful mechanism of comparison used to find your place and status is now constantly giving you negative feedback and causing you to check out instead of compete or participate. The idea here is that as you get your circle back to something approximating your Dunbar number, the mechanism will become helpful again. It's not so much about overcoming and refusing comparison (something you cannot stop because your brain chemically does it anyway) it's about being in the correct environment for the mechanism to work properly. It's like blaming the teeth on a gear for not driving your car when you put the gear on the hood instead of the transmission. The teeth on the gear only work inside the transmission. They don't need to be removed or ignored, they need to be in the right environment. Being closer to Dunbar's number is the right environment. It's not the comparisons (teeth) that are the problem, it's their location.
I explained extensively how I think it applies but maybe you thought I meant something else entirely so I will try again. Dunbar applies here because I have come to believe based on how humans operate and how they are breaking down in situations above Dunbar's number, especially due to things like depression and anxiety, that a once useful mechanism of comparison used to find your place and status is now constantly giving you negative feedback and causing you to check out instead of compete or participate. The idea here is that as you get your circle back to something approximating your Dunbar number, the mechanism will become helpful again. It's not so much about overcoming and refusing comparison (something you cannot stop because your brain chemically does it anyway) it's about being in the correct environment for the mechanism to work properly. It's like blaming the teeth on a gear for not driving your car when you put the gear on the hood instead of the transmission. The teeth on the gear only work inside the transmission. They don't need to be removed or ignored, they need to be in the right environment. Being closer to Dunbar's number is the right environment. It's not the comparisons (teeth) that are the problem, it's their location.