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gjsman-1000 • today at 4:07 PM • 4 replies • view on HN

The very term "meat space" or "meat proxy" were terms invented by the terminally online who needed to disconnect a decade ago. Nobody sane talks or thinks like this.


Replies

0_____0 • today at 4:30 PM

Hah those terms have been around for a long time. They're tongue in cheek, or they were originally, like calling outdoors the "big room with the blue ceiling."

latexr • today at 4:36 PM

“Meatspace” was a response to “cyberspace”. If I think about it (and I make no claims to veracity here other than gut feel), I can’t think of anyone who’d use “meatspace” in earnest except those who spend too long in the alternative; but then again I also can’t think of anyone who’d use “cyberspace” in earnest except those who understand close to nothing about it. So they’re opposites but originate from the same place.

Anyway, Merriam-Webster claims the terms were introduced fairly close to each other, only about a decade apart, in the 80’s (cyber) and 90’s (meat).

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/what-is-meatspace

embedding-shape • today at 4:11 PM

> Nobody sane talks or thinks like this

Seems mean to me, to outright dismiss what parent says just because you feel like it's different from how you talk or think.

I'd agree though, most people AFK don't speak or think like that, but to say no one ("sane") does is making you seem more intolerant than "spreading knowledge" or whatever you think you're doing.

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switchbak • today at 4:17 PM

Do you have proof of the etymology of Meat Space? I mean other than some AI generated slop?

My understanding is that’s a new term, unrelated to the context you’re describing.

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