TimS comments on Eliezer's Sequences and Mainstream Academia - Less Wrong

99 Post author: lukeprog 15 September 2012 12:32AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 September 2012 04:18:49AM 4 points [-]

Do you have a Greasemonkey script that rips all the qualifying words out of my post, or something?

All readers have a Greasemonkey script that rips all the qualifying words out of a post. This is a natural fact of writing and reading.

Your comment above seems to be reacting to a different post that I didn't write

Not the post you wrote - the post that the long-time LWer who Twittered "Eliezer's Yudkowsky's Sequences are mostly not original" read. The actual real-world consequences of a post like this when people actually read it are what bothers me, and it does feel frustrating because those consequences seem very predictable - like you're living in an authorial should-universe. Of course somebody's going to read that post and think "Eliezer Yudkowsky's Sequences are mostly not original"! Of course that's going to be the consequence of writing it! And maybe it's just because I was reading it instead of writing it myself, without having all of your intentions so prominently in my mind, but I don't see why on Earth you'd expect any other message to come across than that. A few qualifying words don't have the kind of power it takes to stop that from happening!

Comment author: TimS 16 September 2012 04:54:37AM *  9 points [-]

It is very easy to read the sequences and think that you think the philosophical thought is original to you. Other than the FAI stuff and decision theory stuff, is that true?

What exactly is wrong with being thought of as a very high-end popularizer? That material is incredibly well presented.

Additionally, people who disagree with your philosophical positions ought not be put in the (EDIT: position) of needing to reinvent the philosophical wheel to engage critically with your essays.

Comment author: wedrifid 16 September 2012 05:00:02AM 0 points [-]

Additionally, people who disagree with your philosophical positions ought not be put in the power of needing to reinvent the philosophical wheel to engage critically with your essays.

Put in the position of?

Comment author: TimS 16 September 2012 03:58:29PM 0 points [-]

Yes, thanks.

Comment author: ciphergoth 18 September 2012 12:58:19PM 2 points [-]

I'd take out the EDIT - people can see from the comment below that you edited in response to a comment.