4 ms·
One (of the many) things that irks me about most of the writing from SV-bigwig-types: they almost never cite anything.
by shmageggy 5y ago
One (of the many) things that irks me about most of the writing from SV-bigwig-types: they almost never cite anything.
- barry-cotter 5y agoCiting things is an academic tic, not one generally followed in other forms of writing. Terminator didn’t point out that the idea of machine intelligences taking over was first thought of by the Czech guy who coined the word “robot”. Nor does Terry Pratchett cite Conan the Barbarian as inspiration for Cohen the Barbarian.
- shmageggy 5y agoYour analogies are ridiculous to the point of being non-seqiturs. Citing things is not a "tic", it's a discipline that serious non-fiction writers employ when they want to lend support to their claims, show the provenance of their ideas, and generally situate their work in the wider world of ideas. Many SV articles, including PG's, are often full of claims that would benefit from citation for all of the above reasons.