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

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

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Comment author: ciphergoth 16 September 2012 10:40:10AM 7 points [-]

Thinking about it further though, this makes something of a nonsense of the original tweet, since it's hard to think what would count as "mostly original" by this standard. You might as well describe eg The Better Angels of Our Nature as "mostly not original" since it contains no original research but presents a synthesis of the research of others, building up to a common theme.

The problem I have is that if I say something that sounds positive about the Sequences, that's going to turn my friends off, since they already know I think well of them. By saying something that on first reading sounds negative, I might get their interest, but that only works if they go on to follow the link.

Comment author: wedrifid 16 September 2012 10:53:17AM 7 points [-]

The problem I have is that if I say something that sounds positive about the Sequences, that's going to turn my friends off, since they already know I think well of them.

For example, they may be turned off if you came out and said "The sequences really aren't the parochial ramblings of an intellectual outcast, they are totally in accord with mainstream scientific thinking". But "mostly not original" conveys much of the same message by making a concession to the orthodoxy.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 16 September 2012 11:20:48AM 1 point [-]

The problem I have is that if I say something that sounds positive about the Sequences, that's going to turn my friends off, since they already know I think well of them.

I do not understand this. What planet are your friends from? If you're tweeting to your friends, and they already know what you think of the Sequences, why are you tweeting about them to them?

Comment author: ciphergoth 16 September 2012 11:34:26AM 3 points [-]

They are from Earth. Because it would be great for me and for the world if more of my friends took an interest in this sort of thing, and if they have misconceptions that stand in the way of that I'd like to clear up those misconceptions.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 17 September 2012 08:01:17AM 1 point [-]

Because it would be great for me and for the world if more of my friends took an interest in this sort of thing, and if they have misconceptions that stand in the way of that I'd like to clear up those misconceptions.

I understand the goal; but not the action taken to achieve it. Negging the Sequences will get them to take more of an interest?

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