Mike Solana

I sort of agree with this but the sad fact is many if not most people only have relatively casual or constrained interactions with other people and saying “those aren’t good enough, just discard them” is pretty harsh

There should be somewhere people can go to bond over discussing weird / difficult ideas without dealing with the pretenses or assumptions people make about them going into discussions.

My approach is to ask their opinion first. What do you think about <wierd or unpopular idea>? How did you come to that conclusion? After they have shared their opinion, they are usually willing to hear mine.

Don't demand they adopt your ideas. Talk to exchange ideas, not win arguments. Try to understand them and give them the benefit of doubt. If that's not good enough for them, they wouldn't make good friends anyway. It's a good filter.

I absolutely agree! Honesty is very liberating because long term it selects for friends that you can discuss difficult topics with. One aspect I have not yet solved is family. How do you deal with the connections where you can not cut the ties? Any ideas?

This feels like a subtweet. Did @cdixon and @jack reach out? Be there for them

Truth.

So..: my wife is not my friend?

Yep