AdeleneDawner comments on Open Thread: January 2010 - Less Wrong
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It is not that I object to dramatic thoughts; rather, I object to drama in the absence of thought. Not every scream made of words represents a thought. For if something really is wrong with the universe, the least one could begin to do about it would be to state the problem explicitly. Even a vague first attempt ("Major! These atoms ... they're all in the wrong places!") is at least an attempt to say something, to communicate some sort of proposition that can be checked against the world. But you see, I fear that some screams don't actually communicate anything: not even, "I'm hurt!" for to say that one is hurt presupposes that one is being hurt by something, some thing of which which we can speak, of which we can name predicates and say "It is so" or "It is not so." Even very sick and damaged creatures can be helped, as long their cries have enough structure for us to extrapolate a volition. But not all animate entities are creatures. Creatures have problems, problems we might be able to solve. Agonium just sits there, howling. You cannot help it; it can only be destroyed.
Did I miss something?
No. (Exploratory commentary seemed appropriate for Open Thread.)