It's high status to be ahead of somebody in the inferential distance.

Only if you are ahead in something that is socially respected. Otherwise you are just weird. Knowing a lot about rock music can make you a high-status expert. Knowing a lot about Star Wars trivia usually just isolates you.

How often have you witnessed an argument where one person used a bunch of jargon from some science, their opponent asked them to close the inferential distance by defining those terms, and then the first guy acted as if the second had no business in the discussion if he doesn't even know what those terms mean?

Then it's not only about the inferential distance, but also about the second person trying to follow the first person; which gave the first person opportunity to signal higher status.

Imagine a situation when the first person speaks using some scientific jargon that nobody understands, but the second person just says something funny and perhaps a little offensive, and the whole room laughs with them. Where is the high status now?