CAN you call him?

I’m autistic and I don’t think I fall into this way of talking but I do know that autistic people have been saying that they are getting flagged as AI more often than non autistic people. It’s only anecdotal but it will be interesting to see if it is really happening!

My question is do people have supervisors that they never see (in a meeting, even on video?) or talk to on the phone? I know a lot is done through text based communication now but I didn’t realize there are people who ONLY have text based comms with their bosses.

Especially video games. Honestly as a casual gamer I get it. Games are expensive and they are a gamble. I’ve bought games in the past and played them for half hour and realized I hate it lol. I rarely buy games now, especially if it’s not a franchise I already know and like, because I can’t afford the gamble. If I do I buy a physical copy so I can sell it on.

At least with streaming services you can check and know there’s a few hours of shows you will definitely watch. It’s still tol expensive and I’m cancelling mine but it is less of a gamble than video games.

Yep. I’m a millennial. I was always pirating as a teenager/early 20s. Then I did join streaming, just Netflix and another local one. I’m about to cancel them both again as I rebuild my own library.

I was reworking my budget the other day and accidentally opened my old one from 5 years ago, so depressing 😅 Everything has gone up so much, seeing it all laid out in a spreadsheet was confronting 😭 both streaming services have doubled in price. 2 streaming services costs $500 a year total - as you say, maybe not a big deal if you’re earning 100k but as a low income earner it’s worth cutting. It’s only going to keep up going up! Subscription models suck for other programs and services too, it adds up so quickly 😭

Yep, definitely not saying that we’re not below the replacement numbers despite certain demographics having more access and increases! The replacement number itself is so generic.

It’s based on developed country’s requirements without taking migration into account. So it’s not what most developed countries talking about declining birth rates, are actually aiming for. Australia, for example, is built on immigration, our goal being based on no immigration makes no sense! Other countries (Ireland for example) still have a high rate of emigration. A lot to take into consideration outside the very generic replacement number of 2.1 when you start to narrow it down 😅 You’re right about Israel in terms of developed countries! They’re sitting at ~2.9!

Some of the rhetoric I see seems to be that the birth rates have “suddenly” dropped which is far from accurate.

I’m looking at a couple of countries but particularly Australia. Contraception being introduced (early 60s) had a big effect as did the accessibility of abortion (70s). In fact, it appears that the biggest “sudden drop” actually occured through the 70s/early 80s. I wonder if they were speaking about it in the alarmist way we (society) do now.

Interestingly - Australia - teen pregnancies have dropped 75% since the 1970s. Gonna say this is a good thing about declining birth rates. 👏

I’m no data analyst but I think that it looks like the biggest factor for declining birth rates came with birth control. If not for that I think the graphs would look relatively stable with smaller fluctuations.

Australia actually had a small increase in the early 2020s! Still below 2.1 though!

I don’t know, it’s all very interesting. I think there are a lot of very good things about the birth rate having dropped. Found a study around the decreasing rate of “undesired births”. Such a nuanced topic! I’m sure there’s more numbers out there for individual countries about the projection around migration numbers needed rather than focusing on the generic replacement number.

A few of the sources I read;

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/historical-population/latest-release

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12205728/

https://www.id.com.au/insights/articles/australias-birth-rate-increases-for-the-first-time-in-10-years/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7834459/

😅 right some hyperbole there or what! I actually don’t disagree with the rest of that comment about nature and community but you really lose people by starting with wild statements like western culture is a disease! It’s sad because they probably had some decent points (nature, community etc) but override that with the flair of the dramatic and it’s hard to take seriously!

Haha, it’s interesting. I’m a lesbian, never had an interest in kids. My brother is straight, never been interested in kids. My sister is a lesbian and has had two kids (so far?). It’s just interesting to see what different people see as the barriers/reasons for not having kids (not having a dig, it’s genuinely interesting!)

That’s where it would be fascinating to see the statistics laid out for so many things side by side; how many more LGBTQ people are having families than in the past, same with infertile people, single people (more rare but it happens!) and then the ways that it’s decreased too elsewhere. There are groups who are having more kids than ever before - because it’s more accessible (IVF) and then obviously groups that aren’t.

Then of course the way that life expectancy has increased which is where the balance gets tricky and the numbers are important.

I’m also curious if 4-5 kid families are still more common in any western countries than others. I’m in Australia and agree that they’re rare here now. I’d see 2 as the norm though I’m going to jump down a rabbit hole now 😅 🐇

Green (before I read your whole post, just the question)

I mean I feel like these numbers have been decreasing since mortality rates increased. People used to have 5-10 kids because they knew they likely wouldn’t all live through childhood. It makes sense that people realized that shift and that having 10 kids who survived wasn’t easy! So yes that plus economics makes sense why most families are about 2 kids.

Yes, I think with women it’s not just about “career or children”. Regardless of being a “career woman” or not, more women than historically are choosing not to have kids or choosing not to settle for whoever comes along. So if they don’t meet someone they really like they’re more likely to walk away.

Social pressure around having kids absolutely still exists but it’s definitely lower compared to any other time in history.

It’s the same as how people instantly think divorce rates going up is a bad thing. But again, this is partly due to less social pressure and more people willing to break the previous social codes in which case it’s a good thing that more people are leaving unhappy marriages.

I’m not sure the birth rates will climb significantly again. I think they will just even out steadily because there are people who have the choice to not have children now. And it’s not just giving them the opportunity to manage it financially that will change that. Reducing it to economics still ignores part of the feminist, equality angle of the argument.

Yep that’s right, to give to first responders, the person themselves or any other support people that may be involved. Can help people pick up on if anything is changing, longer seizures can mean medication might need looking at, condition deteriorating etc.

Generally the advice is moving everything out of the way, if possible a blanket or something under their head as quickly as possible if they are on a hard surface and calling the ambulance (if someone else is there get them to do that straight away while you move stuff!) Also a good idea to time the seizure if possible! When they come to, have them stay laying down for a few minutes at least before sitting up. Some people can appear to be okay but go back into seizure so slowly, slowly with sitting up and even before offering a water.

If you know someone who has seizures, even irregularly, it’s a good idea to ask them about it beforehand in case it ever happens when you’re with them. People can have different management plans and it also just gives you some guidance and the other person some control should it happen.

(I work in disability!)

Yeah we actually learned very quickly about that in legal studies (high school) way back in 2000s and it was presented like a silly Americans (Australian here) kind of thing, just a quick silly case in a small box in the textbook. Wasn’t til I got older I learned the full story!

We had an Aussie silly case too, not just picking on the US 😅 ours was about some drink in an opaque bottle and someone drank it all before they could see there was some kind of bug or even a snail in the bottle? Something like that so they sued the drink company 🤢 can’t remember enough about that one to find anything on it!

Yes! It’s actually an important distinction to make between being able to read the article and being able to comprehend it and then furthermore being able to contextualise it.

Interestingly, I believe this is somewhat similar, but also a bit of a digression so forgive me lol. I am autistic and many people I interact with don’t notice unless I tell them. My report actually says, that, particularly with verbal social interactions, although it can appear that I understand everything I’m actually only getting that kind of “surface level” information - hence I can miss social cues and such. I can get along okay with that surface level information because I can still participate in the conversation with the bare bones.

I think this is somewhat similar to how some people can read - they can read the words, get the general gist but they miss a lot of the implications that aren’t directly stated. This is why you get a lot of people who can regurgitate kind of “headline news” but don’t actually understand the issue being discussed - they understand the formed sentences but not the full picture. I’m not sure if that makes sense but that’s how I am starting to understand the difference that some people have between reading and comprehension. And how it explains that sometimes someone can sound like they might know what they are talking about - until the conversation gets to a certain point.

Oof yeah in fairness I’m low income so I get bulk billed! The wait time can definitely vary. The thing I find is that GPs seem to spread their time over various clinics now so if you want to see a regular one (which I do due to chronic conditions) it can be a wait because they’re only in a couple of days a week! That’s frustrating.

I find if I just just want to see anyone for something very routine the wait can be anything from a day to a week. That’s definitely got worse over the years - I remember as a kid being picked up from school sick and I’d be in with my regular GP the same afternoon 😅

Your urgent care is so much!!!? I’m in Vic. I’m not sure how it works there. Here we have after hour urgent care clinics (quite recent, they only started a couple of years ago and popping up more places slowly) and I’ve had to go to those twice and again, free. Which I think is for everyone because it’s essentially a don’t go to the ER, go to these clinics if you’re not actually dying lol. I think I waited about 1-2 hours there. The waits no fun obviously but I do like that those clinics exist now, less intense than the ER can be.

I’ve had to do hospital without private and yeah, it’s not great but I don’t know what it’s like in other countries so hard to compare there. I’ve also seen others in private and the biggest difference is getting your own room (and if you’re getting surgery obviously choice there, I’ve just never had to have serious surgery!) it still seems like a pretty awful experience.

Mental health public though is a disaster - I did it once very briefly as a teenager and then private (as a public patient, I was very “lucky”) as an adult. I’d never do either again but particularly public.

Yes and it allows people such as myself, low income earners, disability, to not have to pay for an ambulance (or an annual membership) if needed. ❤️ I think it’s a pretty decent system especially compared to others.

Australia. A broken arm no fee. General check up - no fee.

Autistic.

I don’t have a special interest in trains. I do enjoy the movement of them and other transport though. The movement is calming to me.

I do collect playlists on my special interests. My biggest special interest at the moment is Ireland 🇮🇪 🍀🥰

Tbh, women wouldn’t admit to doing this either - there’s absolutely a shame around women having to make friends with an AI (because we’re meant to be innately social I guess). And I don’t think that other women realize that they are contributing to the issues of women feeling shame using AI by implying it’s a male issue and all about sex and toxic masculinity.

Like as a woman who has used AI, how am I supposed to feel about admitting that I’ve done something that only asshole, horny, incels do (according to a lot of people)?

So the stigma goes all ways and none of it helps anyone. People just need to be more curious than judgemental. Someone does something you don’t understand? That’s okay you don’t understand. Ask them why. Listen. Try to see a different perspective instead of just filling in the gaps with incel, men, sex, ugly, etc. etc.

And do people really believe that women don’t talk to AI companions, in various forms, too?

I’m a woman and I spoke to one of the apps for a while because I was bloody lonely (still am 🤷‍♀️). Had zero to do with men or murder. I didn’t have anyone, of either gender, to connect with.

It’s really easy to just reduce this to a male issue, a toxic masculinity, a male violence issue. We need to go deeper than that if we actually want to understand why people, men, women, everyone, use different AI.

But threads like this, with all the judgement, aren’t going to get a lot of people who admit they use/have used/have considered using AI. By just criticising/laughing, etc at people who do it, ironically, we turn more people towards the AIs.