NihilCredo comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 4 - Less Wrong
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Comments (649)
"Will" should be "with". "Science fiction" and "fantasy" shouldn't be capitalised, nor should "major market". The last sentence is very awkward, with three past participles stepping on each other's role, and should be rewritten.
It is debatable whether "Evil" should be capitalised. The third comma should be deleted. The second sentence is completely broken.
"Rational" should not be capitalised. The paragraph has no logical connection to the one that precedes it.
"Physicists" and "mathematicians" should not be capitalised, especially if "computer programmers" isn't. "All of the time" clashes with "at times". "For example" should be placed five words later. "Yell" is repeated. Your shorter example should precede the longer one.
Do not cite a work that is not available to your audience, unless you can expect them to trust you. "Axiomatized, using bisimulation" is extremely awkward, and if the words are used correctly is not relevant to the point you're making. "In vernacular" should follow a technical explanation. You missed an "as" before "Freud". You added an extra quote. There should be symmetry between the explanations of what primary and secondary mental processes are.
Proslepsis is a vulgar trick. "Still" is unnecessary. "Internet" clashes with "net". There should be a "the" before "first". "Said" should be "according to". That final conjunction is a crime against humanity and should be replaced by "or because he".
There is a qualitative difference between 'being an irrational blow-hard cult-leader' and 'denying your very existence'; do not mix both in the same statement. "Only-self-published" is not a legitimate compound adjective. "Ever" is not used like that. It is a single "claim", not multiple ones. "Full professor" is not hyphenated. The comma before "inventor" should be an "and". There shouldn't be a comma after "feel". "Facebook", for once, should be capitalised. "Anytime" shoud be "at any time". "Asking" should be "to ask", connecting with the previous "to post". That sentence should also be merged with the preceding one.
The comma is unnecessary.
The text as a whole is severely lacking in coherence, jumping from one argument to the next with only the thinnest of connections, and is peppered throughout with unjustified assertions. The tone is also wildly inconsistent, mixing solemn proclamations with personal vendettas. The persuasive power of this essay, as a result, is irredeemably compromised, to the point that any writing you may produce in the future will suffer from violent prejudice.
Conclusion: Whatever "professional publisher" might have "professionally published" your writing deserves to be neither.
-- Summer Glau
Brilliant.
(Why the Glau signature?)
Reference to this.
Ahh, yes, I'd forgotten that one. Even more brilliant.
This is the funniest thing I've read all week, and the fact that it's nested under a highly downvoted comment where few people will see it makes me sad.