I’m not denying that ace spectrum people have relationships and settle down as well. But OP is asking about the normative (read allosexual) experience and explicitly mentions physical attraction.

The vast majority of relationships will involve physical attraction and sex. It’s highly unusual for that to not be the case for allosexual people. That’s not a value judgement—if a minority of allo people find something else works for them, then that’s great. But if OP is asking if this is normal, then no it’s not. Even ‘less attractive’ people, as OP put it, find people they’re attracted to enough to enjoy a lifetime of intimacy and sex with.

Overcoming a lack of physical attraction is a pretty big barrier and I can’t see most people overcoming that barrier just to ‘settle down.’ Not being your physical ideal is one thing, most of us settle down with people who don’t look like models or actors, but finding someone physically unattractive is a tough sell in most cases.

If you don’t find someone physically attractive, how do you settle down with them? Do you just accept getting into bed with someone you’re physically repulsed by every night?

Again… banning the worst practices of social media is to help people. I think this is a comprehension issue at this point.

We need to break them up, and legislate against their practices for the future but this is something that can happen right away and hit them in their pockets

That was in my original comment. I was clearly making the point that the aim is to legislate against harmful practices. I don’t think most people need it spelled out for them why that is, or why we can’t do it right away but I’ve done my best to be patient in explaining it to you.

If you want to take a weird stance that I’m being mean to corporations that’s up to you, but I didn’t say anything vengeful let alone posted a ‘screed’

It’s really not about revenge. It’s about taking back power from corporations and giving it to the people. Right now, political power is with the highest bidder and these companies know it.

They are using the money from advertising to lobby and buy politicians, which is what stops us from having sensible regulations for social media. Taking away that revenue stream inhibits their ability to do this, so it’s a win for the people

The relatively low level of plastic in our testicles

Nope. Can’t say I’ve ever ‘snuggled’ with the boys. The rest… maybe in the context of team sports at some point in life, but there were many layers of machismo layered on top of it.

I think in general there was a sense of camaraderie and sensitivity that those friendships had, which may be surprising from the outside given they had all the trappings of toxic masculinity.

I miss that aspect, but I’d rather not have a physically affectionate relationship with my friends now. A hug when we meet is the limit. Wrestling as a grown adult would be the last thing I’d participate in. I would probably end a friendship if someone tried to grapple with me unprompted

Except many advertisers don’t want to be associated with damaging things. So this has an impact on advertising revenue for social media companies and they would absolutely view this as a blow to their public image.

We need to break them up, and legislate against their practices for the future but this is something that can happen right away and hit them in their pockets

Gambling is not physically addictive, but for its worst addicts it’s as ruinous as cigarettes.

Social media is similar in that the dependence is psychological, and the harm caused can vary from basically none, to tremendous psychological and material damage (up to and including suicide as a result of self-esteem, bullying or body issues).

I would agree that it’s our generation’s cigarettes simply because it’s ubiquitous and the impact on both health and society is unquestioned by the masses. It simply is. We don’t smoke on a plane anymore because we don’t want to give everyone cancer, but we don’t take the same precautions to protect unconsenting individuals, like children, from becoming mush-brained iPad babies manipulated by the TikTok and YouTube algorithms.

Let’s not forget that social media, Facebook to be specific, is blamed for fanning the flames of multiple ethnic conflicts in Asia and Africa that have ended in genocide. It’s likely that cigarettes do more harm to the individual user, but social media does more harm to society. This is something we will have to reckon with in the future, and once we establish sensible controls and norms we’ll wonder how we lived like this for so long.

They have 2 robots so far. I believe they can make it to 5 by next year and the other 995 will just be people in spandex suits like the first time he announced these things

Fun fact: for non-Americans, who are most of the world and the biggest contributors to box office take for MCU films, this character and premise is just goofy. The films are fun to watch in a campy sort of way, but I was surprised to hear Americans talk about them as a serious spy thriller series

Eternals. Too many characters, not enough story. It’s also sinfully boring. Not to mention the random Harry Styles cameo that feels like an outtake

They wasted Christian Bale. What a compelling villain he could’ve been if they had actually written a good story

If it’s not universities, they will meet in country clubs and summer parties. No suggestions for how we short-circuit this entire process but something fundamental about how our society works will have to change for all children to have equal or near-equal levels of opportunity

The average person: Spotify sucks and is making me hate them even more

Shareholders seeing layoffs followed by AI replacements for those workers and then repeated price hikes: 🤑

What a dangerous path we’re walking down. All in service of a slightly better Clippy experience

According to her statement, they were still trying to strike a deal with her within days of the release.

I can’t imagine anything more shady than trying to strike a deal with someone for their likeness, all the while preparing to use it anyway and later denying it had anything to do with them

Oh it’s far more useful than that. It’s the shiny new thing that’s going to make a lot of money for shareholders

You alluded to the US imperialism of the past 200 years, but not the British who have undoubtedly done more to spread the language

English is the current lingua francia because the dominant nation has been speaking English for the past two hundred years and created a pop culture market

Cute that you think it’s the U.S. and it’s little movies that are responsible for English being widely spoken, and not the bloody history of British imperialism being forced on half the planet