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What’s your goal with that? Character smearing is tiring, repetitive, and doesn’t belong here. Let’s move on and focus on the ideas he’s sharing.
by theli0nheart 8y ago
What’s your goal with that? Character smearing is tiring, repetitive, and doesn’t belong here. Let’s move on and focus on the ideas he’s sharing.
- jjoonathan 8y agoWolfram's narcissism is tiring, repetitive, and doesn't belong anywhere. Let's keep that message clear and not go for "it's OK to be a jerk if you're smart."
- theli0nheart 8y agoUm, no. It’s never OK to be a jerk. But that doesn’t mean jerks have nothing of value to add to the world. No human being is perfect. If we disregarded the successes and breakthroughs of anyone who did anything bad in their lives we’d still be living in the Stone Age.
- FatalLogic 8y agoPicasso was a jerk, Mozart was a jerk etc I'm not saying Wolfram is in their league, but I think the same principle applies. You salute the ideas, not the man. If you want to criticize the person, then keep that separate.
- zazen 8y agoI would agree if discussion of Wolfram's narcissism were being dragged into a discussion of Mathematica that didn't otherwise feature Wolfram personally; but that's not the case here. The link is to a text written by Wolfram, in substantial part about Wolfram, in which Wolfram's narcissism is on display. We can't separate the person here.
- golemotron 8y agoI do. You could.
- zazen 8y agoI've tried to suggest that there are difficulties with separating the person from a personal biographical essay in a way that there aren't in separating the author from an abstract art work. I don't suppose you feel like engaging with my suggestion with something more than this blunt, unsupported rejection? If you merely mean that when discussing such a piece we can remain generally calm and give room in the discussion for things other than the author's arrogance, then I agree.
- golemotron 8y agoGood. We agree. I think that separating and author from their work is a skill that can and should be cultivated. I was serious that I can separate the person, so that's an existence proof.
- zazen 8y ago>I was serious that I can separate the person, so that's an existence proof. Those of us who are mere mortals can't reliably predict ourselves to achieve perfection on complex, subjective tasks like this. You find your own self-confidence to be highly convincing to the point of mathematical proof. Please have another think about that. And about making "clever" four-word dismissals of other people's comments.
- theli0nheart 8y ago>> I was serious that I can separate the person, so that's an existence proof. > Those of us who are mere mortals can't reliably predict ourselves to achieve perfection on complex, subjective tasks like this. I was able to separate the two as well without much of a problem, so...I guess I must be some sort of god too. :)
- golemotron 8y agoPleased to meet you. Welcome to the club.