copypasta

thomas

Casting is not that different from doing politics.

Without an audience, your casts have no reach, in the same way that your political agenda won’t be implemented if you lack an electorate. So, you need followers, or else you might as well be casting to your notes app.

In building that followership, you must choose where to place the proverbial cursor between two extremes; you cannot remain undecided.

One extreme is high-integrity: cast only about what you truly care for, regardless of how niche and recondite your interests are, however long or short form that may be, and no matter how alienating your vocabulary is to the average reader.

The other extreme is *not* low-effort kawaii selfies, edgy memes, or LinkedIn platitudes; if those are truly what motivates you (no judgment here), then you can still be a high-integrity caster. What the other extreme is, simply, being inauthentic in return for an audience, engagement farming, and casting only what you think people want to read.

I again pass no moral judgment here — it’s really a personal tradeoff between deontological and utilitarian approaches to using this app.

(Side note: The Venn diagram of low-effort and inauthentic content may overlap greatly, but that’s still orthogonal to the concept of integrity.)

Politicians are no different — you’ll find a few high-integrity folks (on both ends of the ideological spectrum). They may not get elected; but they are consistent, inspiring, and often widely respected in their own ways.

And then you’ll find others who see political expression purely as a mean to an end; the end being to be elected at all cost. And because their electoral discourse is inauthentic, you cannot truly know who they are and what their hidden agenda is until they get to the top, which leads to all sorts of face-eating-leopard, surprised-pikachu regrets, and jadedness toward politics.

I don’t even know anymore if this cast is about Farcaster dynamics or politics. I guess it’s both

Fishing is not that different from doing politics.

Without fish biting, your efforts have no reward, just as your political agenda won’t succeed without voters. So, you need fish to take the bait—otherwise, you might as well be casting your line into an empty bucket.

In attracting those fish, you must decide on your lure between two extremes; you can’t just drift aimlessly.

One extreme is high-integrity fishing: use only the bait and techniques you truly believe in, whether it’s fly-fishing for elusive trout, deep-sea hunting for marlin, or sitting quietly with a worm and a bobber—no matter how niche or unimpressive it seems to others. You fish for the love of it, not for the spectacle.

The other extreme is...

...not just tossing out flashy, mass-produced lures or chumming the water to force a bite. If those methods genuinely excite you (no judgment), then you’re still fishing with integrity. The real opposite extreme is being inauthentic—using whatever gimmick you think will attract the most fish, even if it goes against your instincts as an angler.

Again, no moral judgment—it’s just a choice between fishing for the sake of the craft (deontological) or fishing purely for the catch (utilitarian).

Aviator, diver, Etherean, nexialist, PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

Oh no I love all the pastas, it’s a badge of honor (and they’re funny too)

@aviationdoctor.eth (I hope I don't need to clarify that I love your cast, and pastafying it serves to spread it, not make fun of it)