u/emaxwell14141414

For MMA to expand and legitimize as it has done, fundamental shifts from the peak PRIDE years, in which the UFC was also strongly similar as to the kind of spectacle it was, needed to happen. It was sort of vital to expand the global audience, reduce cultural and social stigma and essentially bring overall MMA skill level up drastically.

The flipside, for many fans, has been MMA's perception and how it has moved far, far away from the days when Wanderlei, Cro Cop, Fedor, Rampage, Liddell, Couture and others were the biggest faces. Going from that to having UFC title holders conduct interviews with the likes of Adin Ross, Ariel Helwani, Nina Drama and others has been sharply divisive, with many believing it makes the fighters far less accessible to huge sections of fight fans who are desperately looking for MMA to return to how it was when PRIDE was at its peak. Others naturally welcome it. What is your stance on the effect that this new perception of fighters has on the sport?

Also, what, if anything, can be done to reconcile current and past eras of MMA so that there is accessibility in terms of skill levels getting constantly higher and fans able to be drawn to fighters as they were in the PRIDE years?

For MMA to expand and legitimize as it has done, fundamental shifts from the peak PRIDE years, in which the UFC was also strongly similar as to the kind of spectacle it was, needed to happen. It was sort of vital to expand the global audience, reduce cultural and social stigma and essentially bring overall MMA skill level up drastically.

The flipside, for many fans, has been MMA's perception and how it has moved far, far away from the days when Wanderlei, Cro Cop, Fedor, Rampage, Liddell, Couture and others were the biggest faces. Going from that to having UFC title holders conduct interviews with the likes of Adin Ross, Ariel Helwani, Nina Drama and others has been sharply divisive, with many believing it makes the fighters far less accessible to huge sections of fight fans who are desperately looking for MMA to return to how it was when PRIDE was at its peak. Others naturally welcome it. What is your stance on the effect that this new perception of fighters has on the sport?

Also, what, if anything, can be done to reconcile current and past eras of MMA so that there is accessibility in terms of skill levels getting constantly higher and fans able to be drawn to fighters as they were in the PRIDE years?

For self evident reasons, the photo, which by now you know what is meant without seeing it, has been everywhere. It comes across as the kind of scandal that, if valid, could obliterate any goodwill Israel has gotten the last few years. In terms of PR, the IDF will no longer be seen as having any real moral superiority to Hezbollah, Hamas, Syrian and Sudanese rival factions, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard or any other Middle Eastern army. That said, there's also reports of a real possibility of it being artificially generated somehow. For example, noting how the uniform elements from helmet to boots are not particularly accurate. If it is artificial, what would be reasons for generating it?

Suffice to say, it's been discussed to death all the ways the 90s and 80s were the peak of culture and really, civilization itself and how it's all downhill from there.

Just with technology the challenges seem everywhere. Capacity to responsibly and safely use the tech we have seems to be going down by the month and quite often our only recourse is to blame the technology itself. Which in the long run is going to work out about as well as scapegoating video games for waves of mass shootings did. Complaints about media, businesses, startups on top of tech are endless, even more so now vs a decade ago.

So is it possible to drastically shift perspectives and interpretations of how culture and our way of life has changed since the earlier decades? And find specific aspects of it that have visibly improved when w allow ourselves to look away from agitators?

And perhaps see that some of the complaints are not all that warranted. I've read complaints for example that all over the US, in the past couple years, the level of interest in fitness, socializing in groups, patronizing restaurants, bars and parks has plummeted and these places have awful service even relative to a decade ago. Could it be that activists online who claim this are often in bubbles or just trying to get more view and subscriptions?

And when it comes to the level of acceptance of differences in cultures and the support communities give each other, as other examples, is it possible to look at how its progressed and see signs that the future can be bright?

And even if it is true to a large extent that we are in hard times, can it be argued it largely is part of the "Hard times create strong men; strong men create good times; good times create weak men; and weak men create hard times" cycle and that progress can be made, and is being made, to get out of the hard times part?

I mean, when it comes to automation, in particular language models, AI characters and art, the list of reasons for backlash, protests and indeed luddite mentality are endless. For starters:

1. They will lead to unprecedented numbers of humans out of work with their roles replaced by automated models that don't do their job as passionately.
2. The development of AI characters is making culture worse by encouraging users to create fantasy scenarios with automated partners that submit and affirm all their desires. This rise of AI partners is considered particularly atrocious
3. The possible massive decrease in quality of art and music due to human ingenuity and creativity taken out of it
4. The way in which it is creating subpar code made without the expertise of senior software devs and encouraging those who are not software experts to get into writing frontend and backend for their own tools. LLMs are considered especially negative for this.
5. The way automation is linked to continued usage of iphones and social media which are wrecking younger generations, driving suicide rates, negative self images and isolation through the roof

With this as a starting point, what methods exist for shifting perspectives and looking at these developments in a manner that is not Luddite?

I am interested in a sort of primer on how to analyze developments from increasing automation in a way that allows for potential to think hopefully going forward.

In the aftermath of RAF 08 and previous RAF and international wrestling events, I was wondering what could be stated about the following.

1. Had Tsarukyan dedicated his combat sport career to freestyle wrestling as opposed to MMA, how far could he have gotten? Would World and/or Olympic golds or at least medals of some kind been within the realm of possibilities?

2. Looking at Snyder's performance, particularly when he came from behind to win, how likely is it that he will be able to keep that up for the remainder of the year and perhaps add a final World gold to his collection?

3. What went wrong with Cassioppi at RAF 08? Before, he had shown massive potential with how he did at international wrestling tournaments, as well against Tazhudinov. Sharipov did not seem to be an especially high level freestyle wrestler, and lack of recent freestyle prep is definitely not sufficient to explain losing in that manner.

4. What can be said about the future potential of Real Woods at World and Olympic level?

Suffice to say, it's been discussed to death all the ways the 90s and 80s were the peak of culture and really, civilization itself and how it's all downhill from there.

Just with technology the challenges seem everywhere. Capacity to responsibly and safely use the tech we have seems to be going down by the month and quite often our only recourse is to blame the technology itself. Which in the long run is going to work out about as well as scapegoating video games for waves of mass shootings did. Complaints about media, businesses, startups on top of tech are endless, even more so now vs a decade ago.

So is it possible to drastically shift perspectives and interpretations of how culture and our way of life has changed since the earlier decades? And find specific aspects of it that have visibly improved when w allow ourselves to look away from agitators?

And perhaps see that some of the complaints are not all that warranted. I've read complaints for example that all over the US, in the past couple years, the level of interest in fitness, socializing in groups, patronizing restaurants, bars and parks has plummeted and these places have awful service even relative to a decade ago. Could it be that activists online who claim this are often in bubbles or just trying to get more view and subscriptions?

And when it comes to the level of acceptance of differences in cultures and the support communities give each other, as other examples, is it possible to look at how its progressed and see signs that the future can be bright?

And even if it is true to a large extent that we are in hard times, can it be argued it largely is part of the "Hard times create strong men; strong men create good times; good times create weak men; and weak men create hard times" cycle and that progress can be made, and is being made, to get out of the hard times part?

In the aftermath of RAF 08 and previous RAF and international wrestling events, I was wondering what could be stated about the following.

1. Had Tsarukyan dedicated his combat sport career to freestyle wrestling as opposed to MMA, how far could he have gotten? Would World and/or Olympic golds or at least medals of some kind been within the realm of possibilities?

2. Looking at Snyder's performance, particularly when he came from behind to win, how likely is it that he will be able to keep that up for the remainder of the year and perhaps add a final World gold to his collection?

3. What went wrong with Cassioppi at RAF 08? Before, he had shown massive potential with how he did at international wrestling tournaments, as well against Tazhudinov. Sharipov did not seem to be an especially high level freestyle wrestler, and lack of recent freestyle prep is definitely not sufficient to explain losing in that manner.

4. What can be said about the future potential of Real Woods at World and Olympic level?

I mean, when it comes to automation, in particular language models, AI characters and art, the list of reasons for backlash, protests and indeed luddite mentality are endless. For starters:

1. They will lead to unprecedented numbers of humans out of work with their roles replaced by automated models that don't do their job as passionately.
2. The development of AI characters is making culture worse by encouraging users to create fantasy scenarios with automated partners that submit and affirm all their desires. This rise of AI partners is considered particularly atrocious
3. The possible massive decrease in quality of art and music due to human ingenuity and creativity taken out of it
4. The way in which it is creating subpar code made without the expertise of senior software devs and encouraging those who are not software experts to get into writing frontend and backend for their own tools. LLMs are considered especially negative for this.
5. The way automation is linked to continued usage of iphones and social media which are wrecking younger generations, driving suicide rates, negative self images and isolation through the roof

With this as a starting point, what methods exist for shifting perspectives and looking at these developments in a manner that is not Luddite?

I am interested in a sort of primer on how to analyze developments from increasing automation in a way that allows for potential to think hopefully going forward.