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I don't agree with this article but it is not perplexing at all. Dead ends exist. The universe is highly, highly limited and everything eventually has a dead en

I don't agree with this article but it is not perplexing at all. Dead ends exist. The universe is highly, highly limited and everything eventually has a dead end. The question is, are we there yet? For certain things yes, for other things no. But to assume there is never a dead end and that everything can be overcome through incremental development and research is patently a false assumption. There are many examples of dead ends within research and development. Thus in short his proposal is likely wrong, but it is not a perplexing proposal. Nor is his proposal guaranteed to be wrong and there is a possibility he may be right. For example Elon predicted self driving will be a finished problem in a year. Guess what? I actually sort of dislike this whole "perplexing" attitude that some people have. It's like yeah his opinion seems wrong or his opinion is not the norm, but there's no need to treat it as if it's "perplexing." It's like you observing animal behavior in a lab and your so "perplexed" on how someone can have a differing opinion. People can have differing opinions and sometimes these opinions can be right and overturn an existing paradigm. Instead of saying you find someone perplexing or strange, just say you disagree. It's more civil and it respects the underdogs of the past who fought against overwhelming odds to change entire schools of thought and bring our knowledge closer to answering the ultimate question. So perplexing how some people are so rude nowadays. See what I did there?

shadowlight 5y ago
I actually find this technique used a lot on HN. They disagree with someone but they want to insult them without violating HN rules so they treat the person as if they're some kind of lab experiment and observing how they're behavior is so "strange" or "perplexing". The admins likely fail to see just how insulting these kinds of comments are. Perplexing is when someone jumps off a cliff while detonating a stick of dynamite. Someone with a differing opinion is NOT perplexing. "I find it so perplexing that someone would think that... despite that... " and so on. Really people should call it out. It's rude and manipulative.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  Thank you for formulating precisely what I felt, but could not describe in detail. Calling someone else's opinion basically outside any rational Overton window is usually meant as a veiled insult.
  - danielmarkbruce 5y ago
    It's possible they are actually perplexed. At least in my experience, there are a good number of people who can't hold in their head different perspectives on a topic. They just can't. The world is simple and black and white in their mind. And they aren't necessarily just plain old dumb, and they aren't uneducated. They just see black and white everywhere. That is perplexing.
    - shadowlight 5y ago
      The world is full of gradients but also binary (aka black & white) systems. Charge is binary, computers are binary, life and death are binary. Systems can be either binary or gradients if one person believes something is binary or discreet that's his opinion and it's not automatically wrong. This assumption that gradients are everywhere/ubiquitous/superior is not correct. No wait let me reframe what I said. How is it that someone can exist that can't comprehend the fact that many things in the universe aren't gradients and that they are in fact black and white? That is SO perplexing. It's baffling to me how someone can think like that and basically walk up to someone and examine them like some sort of sub human and announce that this other person is so perplexing because they don't think like them?? Like how come these people don't announce these things in public? They don't go to someones face and tell them that their opinions and behavior is so baffling? Why? Maybe it's because most people are aware that saying something like this is offensive. So they save it for HN where they can announce this garbage all the time without retribution from the other party. It's just so perplexing to me how you, daniel, are unable to comprehend this. You say these "black and white" people are everywhere. Do you walk up to them in real life and tell them how "perplexing" you think they are? No. You don't. But you probably do it all the time on HN. So baffling this behavior.... I mean your not necessarily just plain old dumb and you aren't uneducated... yet you still do this on HN and can't see that it's an insult on HN just like it is in real life. So baffling that a human exists that thinks like this. I am truly perplexed.
- drran 5y ago
  You speak like a woman. The main goal of a man is to win, so we play the social game where our goal is not to show that something is wrong, because it's impersonal, but to show that somebody is inferior in comparison to us, so we will deserve respect. (Non-native speaker)
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Cipater 5y ago
    Is this a joke?
    - drran 5y ago
      https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/testosterone-and-dominance-in-men/0CA56D56ED732CE24B67AC14E837E8D3 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain... In men, high levels of endogenous testosterone (T) seem to encourage behavior intended to dominate – to enhance one's status over – other people. Sometimes dominant behavior is aggressive, its apparent intent being to inflict harm on another person, but often dominance is expressed nonaggressively. Sometimes dominant behavior takes the form of antisocial behavior, including rebellion against authority and law breaking. Measurement of T at a single point in time, presumably indicative of a man's basal T level, predicts many of these dominant or antisocial behaviors. T not only affects behavior but also responds to it. The act of competing for dominant status affects male T levels in two ways. First, T rises in the face of a challenge, as if it were an anticipatory response to impending competition. Second, after the competition, T rises in winners and declines in losers.
      - shadowlight 5y ago
        Why isn't the person I responded to replying to what I wrote? Probably because he's been dominated. This post serves to win the game and lay out ammunition for others to use in the future. Every culture and conversational arena has rules that must be obeyed when playing the dominance game. By pointing out how someone is violating the spirit of HN etiquette I dominate the other party by elucidating how the other person isn't playing by the rules. I can link to this thread in the future for anyone who wants to call someone "perplexing" in the future. You should note that dominance games exist in both men and women. Everybody flexes sometimes but most people are never self aware about it. You should also know that relating gender to behavior even though it's scientifically valid is a cultural no no. Expect to lose the dominance game should you ever go this route as you'll be labelled as sexist or people will become incredulous. "Are you literally implying men and women can behave differently? That's preposterous!!" There's a subtle veiled insult here when you called me a woman. It's also a little off topic, but whatever. The obvious move would be to call you sexist as the rules of our modern culture say it's an easy win. I can also just be silent and you automatically lose as others vote you down. But you aren't technically wrong about the differences between male and female behavior. So I won't take that route because it's cheap. Either way you are completely off. I'm a dude. I'm a heterosexual male doing what heterosexual male humans typically do in the wild. I seek to dominate ass holes who call others perplexing. I dominate by being fucking completely right and not by using cheap conversational tactics. This entire post was the typical male testosterone fueled maneuver. I'm curious as to why you weren't able to see that? Maybe it's because you're female? Go read a psychology book on gender. Maybe that will help you understand the male mind better.

shadowlight 5y ago

I actually find this technique used a lot on HN. They disagree with someone but they want to insult them without violating HN rules so they treat the person as if they're some kind of lab experiment and observing how they're behavior is so "strange" or "perplexing". The admins likely fail to see just how insulting these kinds of comments are. Perplexing is when someone jumps off a cliff while detonating a stick of dynamite. Someone with a differing opinion is NOT perplexing. "I find it so perplexing that someone would think that... despite that... " and so on. Really people should call it out. It's rude and manipulative.

inglor_cz 5y ago
Thank you for formulating precisely what I felt, but could not describe in detail. Calling someone else's opinion basically outside any rational Overton window is usually meant as a veiled insult.
- danielmarkbruce 5y ago
  It's possible they are actually perplexed. At least in my experience, there are a good number of people who can't hold in their head different perspectives on a topic. They just can't. The world is simple and black and white in their mind. And they aren't necessarily just plain old dumb, and they aren't uneducated. They just see black and white everywhere. That is perplexing.
  - shadowlight 5y ago
    The world is full of gradients but also binary (aka black & white) systems. Charge is binary, computers are binary, life and death are binary. Systems can be either binary or gradients if one person believes something is binary or discreet that's his opinion and it's not automatically wrong. This assumption that gradients are everywhere/ubiquitous/superior is not correct. No wait let me reframe what I said. How is it that someone can exist that can't comprehend the fact that many things in the universe aren't gradients and that they are in fact black and white? That is SO perplexing. It's baffling to me how someone can think like that and basically walk up to someone and examine them like some sort of sub human and announce that this other person is so perplexing because they don't think like them?? Like how come these people don't announce these things in public? They don't go to someones face and tell them that their opinions and behavior is so baffling? Why? Maybe it's because most people are aware that saying something like this is offensive. So they save it for HN where they can announce this garbage all the time without retribution from the other party. It's just so perplexing to me how you, daniel, are unable to comprehend this. You say these "black and white" people are everywhere. Do you walk up to them in real life and tell them how "perplexing" you think they are? No. You don't. But you probably do it all the time on HN. So baffling this behavior.... I mean your not necessarily just plain old dumb and you aren't uneducated... yet you still do this on HN and can't see that it's an insult on HN just like it is in real life. So baffling that a human exists that thinks like this. I am truly perplexed.
drran 5y ago
You speak like a woman. The main goal of a man is to win, so we play the social game where our goal is not to show that something is wrong, because it's impersonal, but to show that somebody is inferior in comparison to us, so we will deserve respect. (Non-native speaker)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Cipater 5y ago
  Is this a joke?
  - drran 5y ago
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/testosterone-and-dominance-in-men/0CA56D56ED732CE24B67AC14E837E8D3 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain... In men, high levels of endogenous testosterone (T) seem to encourage behavior intended to dominate – to enhance one's status over – other people. Sometimes dominant behavior is aggressive, its apparent intent being to inflict harm on another person, but often dominance is expressed nonaggressively. Sometimes dominant behavior takes the form of antisocial behavior, including rebellion against authority and law breaking. Measurement of T at a single point in time, presumably indicative of a man's basal T level, predicts many of these dominant or antisocial behaviors. T not only affects behavior but also responds to it. The act of competing for dominant status affects male T levels in two ways. First, T rises in the face of a challenge, as if it were an anticipatory response to impending competition. Second, after the competition, T rises in winners and declines in losers.
    - shadowlight 5y ago
      Why isn't the person I responded to replying to what I wrote? Probably because he's been dominated. This post serves to win the game and lay out ammunition for others to use in the future. Every culture and conversational arena has rules that must be obeyed when playing the dominance game. By pointing out how someone is violating the spirit of HN etiquette I dominate the other party by elucidating how the other person isn't playing by the rules. I can link to this thread in the future for anyone who wants to call someone "perplexing" in the future. You should note that dominance games exist in both men and women. Everybody flexes sometimes but most people are never self aware about it. You should also know that relating gender to behavior even though it's scientifically valid is a cultural no no. Expect to lose the dominance game should you ever go this route as you'll be labelled as sexist or people will become incredulous. "Are you literally implying men and women can behave differently? That's preposterous!!" There's a subtle veiled insult here when you called me a woman. It's also a little off topic, but whatever. The obvious move would be to call you sexist as the rules of our modern culture say it's an easy win. I can also just be silent and you automatically lose as others vote you down. But you aren't technically wrong about the differences between male and female behavior. So I won't take that route because it's cheap. Either way you are completely off. I'm a dude. I'm a heterosexual male doing what heterosexual male humans typically do in the wild. I seek to dominate ass holes who call others perplexing. I dominate by being fucking completely right and not by using cheap conversational tactics. This entire post was the typical male testosterone fueled maneuver. I'm curious as to why you weren't able to see that? Maybe it's because you're female? Go read a psychology book on gender. Maybe that will help you understand the male mind better.