CharlesR comments on The Singularity Institute's Arrogance Problem - Less Wrong
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I believe that. My first-pass filter for theories of why some people think SIAI is "arrogant" is whether the theory also explains, in equal quantity, why those same people find Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres to be an unbearably snotty little kid or whatever. If the theory is specialized to SIAI and doesn't explain the large quantities of similar-sounding vitriol gotten by a character in a fanfiction in a widely different situation who happens to be written by the same author, then in all honesty I write it off pretty quickly. I wouldn't mind understanding this better, but I'm looking for the detailed mechanics of the instinctive sub-second ick reaction experienced by a certain fraction of the population, not the verbal reasons they reach for afterward when they have to come up with a serious-sounding justification. I don't believe it, frankly, any more than I believe that someone actually hates hates hates Methods because "Professor McGonagall is acting out of character".
I once read a book on characterization. I forget the exact quote, but it went something like, "If you want to make your villian more believable, make him more intelligent."
I thought my brain had misfired. But apparently, for the average reader it works.