If in your heart you believe you already know, or if in your heart you do not wish to know, then your questioning will be purposeless and your skills without direction.

—Twelve Virtues of Rationality

It's just, I'm having an amazing time back home, and my time is limited. I don't know your goals, but you might want to try harder to signal that you're really curious and not just asking questions that you think are rhetorical. When you reference common knowledge 'round these parts, like Eliezer's posts, you should expect that the other person is already aware of that knowledge, and that they have real, substantive reasons to think that what they said is not entirely refuted by the contents of said common knowledge.

Of course, asking rhetorical questions is a perfectly decent way to make an argument. It's just that arguments in that sense aren't quite what's called for in situations like these, I think. But that might just be a difference in our epistemic styles, especially if you're Slavic. (Gasp, racism! ;P )