Another view would be that people want to be good at conversation not only because they find it fun but there is utility in building rapport quickly, networking and not being cast as a cold person.

I do find the ice breaky, cached Q&A stuff really boring and tend to want to find an excuse to run away quickly, something that happens often at the dreaded "work event". I tend to see it as almost fully acting a part despite my internal feelings

At these things, I do occasionally come across the good conversationalist, able to make me want to stick with speaking to them even if the convo is not that deep or in my interest areas. I think becoming like such a person isn't a herculean task but does take practice and is something I aspire too

This is more from a professional setting though, in a casual setting it's much easier to disengage from a boring person, find shared interests and the convos have much less boundaries

I am but puzzle about how your post could wreck someone, it's a great piece to help those with fears about something they cannot control to not worry about it too much or understanding the importance of learning to grieve. If I were in those spots, the message is an optimistic one

This post is satire but I am still wondering if the comments are genuine, AI generated or playing along with OP

Not a critique of retinoids but your post is not extremely convincing, I've looked into anti-aging anti-wrinkle cosmetics and the world of products is filled with marketing speak. Reading your post it seems no different from frontpage Google blogs for retinoids or skincare or supplements. Seeing those before and after pics is surprising on a site that loves talking about RCTs and statistical power! But it's hard I'd like to challenge anyone to try googling "vitamin C wrinkles" and see if you can make a conclusion or understand which form or preparation is most effective if at all. Niacinamide, Ha, Ginseng, squalene, vitamins, caffeine... they can't all work can they?

Cosmetics/health stuff marketing is the name of the game here, just slap a bunch of cheap actives into a bottle and your brand and budget will carry you.

I was unable to come to firm conclusions or cut through blog spam / marketing speak, I personally chose to go for "peptides" (aka Matrixyl, matrikines).

• It has been studied to aid wound healing. And this study in Molecular Pharmaceutical, a journal on drug delivery instead of skincare/aging/cosmetic, seems proper https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/mp300549d
• The first Matrixyl 3000 is patented/licensed by it's inventors (Sederma/Croda), which makes me believe it's 'moat' is its efficacy/trade secret compared with large cosmetics companies who's competive advantage are marketing/brand. The are a ingredients supplier to these companies, since they are B2B they aren't in the marketing game. There are also several similar newer competing 'peptides' that companies have spend R&D on
• For an active ingredient, it doesn't seem the trouble to make compared to many of the simpler ones if it didn't work. It's a triple amino acid that is later palmitoylated to increase topical absorption. That's is just a guess of course, but Palmitoylated-KTTKS doesn't roll off the tongue or look nice on a bottle

Even though they are licensed, they arent much more expensive than high end products with cheaper/ineffective actives. Anecdotally, my skin feels more supple. I have no idea which of the peptides works best

Networking, Relationship building, both professional and personal, I'm sure there are overlaps. And echoing another request: Sales

The way I see it, Altman likely was not giving great board updates and may have been ignoring what they told him to do for months. Board removal was not a credible threat then, adding more board members would not do anything to change him.

The safety/risk calculus changed for him. It was now a decision between Sam and 700 employees working unshackled for MSFT or bringing Sam back to OpenAI with a new board, the former being way more risky for humanity as a whole in his mind.