People are very strange

For reasons which will become obvious, I'm going to describe something seen on my friends list rather than quoting with attribution.

Someone adjusted their profile on a matchup service to say "single, not looking, not interested, and not available". And started getting introductory contacts every day instead of every few months.

Two of the four comments recounted similar experiences.

This isn't just "the subconscious doesn't understand negation". This is "the subconscious thinks negation is a flashing neon sign that says 'Here's the good stuff'".

Any theories about what's going on?

People are very strange

For reasons which will become obvious, I'm going to describe something seen on my friends list rather than quoting with attribution.

Someone adjusted their profile on a matchup service to say "single, not looking, not interested, and not available". And started getting introductory contacts every day instead of every few months.

Two of the four comments recounted similar experiences.

This isn't just "the subconscious doesn't understand negation". This is "the subconscious thinks negation is a flashing neon sign that says 'Here's the good stuff'".

Any theories about what's going on?

Modifying humanity

Three popular series with what seem to be human characters, but I'd say not exactly.....

One is George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The people are somewhat less cooperative than real world people, and less interested in wisdom. It's set at a more or less Renaissance tech level (they have plate armor, but I don't know how well the rest of the tech matches up), but in the real Renaissance, people had religion and philosophy. I'm not saying they were extremely wise or kind, but they weren't as horrendous. Or am I too optimistic about the real world?

The next is Tolkien's hobbits. They're read as humans, and explicitly described as a branch of humanity, but they're clearly much less violent.

Rowling's wizards are psychologically much tougher than humans. As far as I know, a human (or muggle, if you prefer) would not have come out of Harry's childhood in as good shape as he did, though I'll be interested in comments about what's known about resilience. I don't think a human could have come out of Azkaban sane.

Any other notable examples of modified people? Or is it just likely that if a piece of fiction is going to have a unified tone, then some part of the human range has to be left out?

Modifying humanity

Three popular series with what seem to be human characters, but I'd say not exactly.....

One is George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The people are somewhat less cooperative than real world people, and less interested in wisdom. It's set at a more or less Renaissance tech level (they have plate armor, but I don't know how well the rest of the tech matches up), but in the real Renaissance, people had religion and philosophy. I'm not saying they were extremely wise or kind, but they weren't as horrendous. Or am I too optimistic about the real world?

The next is Tolkien's hobbits. They're read as humans, and explicitly described as a branch of humanity, but they're clearly much less violent.

Rowling's wizards are psychologically much tougher than humans. As far as I know, a human (or muggle, if you prefer) would not have come out of Harry's childhood in as good shape as he did, though I'll be interested in comments about what's known about resilience. I don't think a human could have come out of Azkaban sane.

Any other notable examples of modified people? Or is it just likely that if a piece of fiction is going to have a unified tone, then some part of the human range has to be left out?

Reversed polarity in the social flow

In my recent post about people getting more approached when they say they don't want it, there were some questions about the genders involved.

The person who inspired my post is male, and the people who were making contact were about 50/50 male and female.

Here's a sad theory. There are a lot of people who don't know what someone being attracted to them would look like. They literally can't see it. They may have been on the receiving end of so much rejection growing up that it's the only social contact they can imagine.

Reversed polarity in the social flow

In my recent post about people getting more approached when they say they don't want it, there were some questions about the genders involved.

The person who inspired my post is male, and the people who were making contact were about 50/50 male and female.

Here's a sad theory. There are a lot of people who don't know what someone being attracted to them would look like. They literally can't see it. They may have been on the receiving end of so much rejection growing up that it's the only social contact they can imagine.