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> Everybody would be better off if they stopped believing what they believe about SOC2, and started believing what I believe about SOC2. Since the author is a
by xpe 4y ago
> Everybody would be better off if they stopped believing what they believe about SOC2, and started believing what I believe about SOC2.
Since the author is a member of the set "everybody", we have a paradox. :)
More seriously, it would not be hard to adjust the language just a little bit by saying, e.g. "Most people would be better off...". Alternatively, the author could adopt a common style used in business communication where the author creates a label for the group that would benefit from the SOC2 knowledge. Perhaps call the combination of "cynics", "customers", and "true believers" the "unwise trifecta" or something. (I admit don't have a catchy term in mind yet.)
- mrkurt 4y agoThe best thing about written English is how malleable it is. Everybody doesn't have to mean everybody.
- CoastalCoder 4y agoMy current view is that ambiguous language only benefits poets and disingenuous scoundrels (politicians, sleazy marketers, etc.) That said, I'm open to being talked out of this viewpoint. Being cynical makes me unhappy.
- mrkurt 4y agoThomas is definitely a disingenuous scoundrel. In all seriousness, I laugh at absurd absolutes. If you show me a sentence with "Most people" and the same sentence with "Everybody", I'm going to smile at the second. But I don't think that means it's ambiguous. "I literally died" makes me laugh but there's no deception.
- xpe 4y agoThis is why we can't have nice things. e.g. remember when "synergy" actually meant something?
- rightbyte 4y agoI literally remember that.
- nonameiguess 4y agoIf we're being sufficiently pedantic about this, for any person A and belief B, it is perfectly non-paradoxical for A to stop believing B and then start believing B.
- PeterisP 4y agoIf we're being sufficiently pedantic, then after this process person A would be right where they started and would not be "better off", making the original statement false.
- tptacek 4y agoIt would be easy to adjust the language. I'd just have to give up on people reading any of it.
- xpe 4y ago... because there are no possible improvements, of course, to perfection. P.S. False dichotomy alert
- sixhobbits 4y ago> Alternatively, the author could adopt a common style used in business communication where the author creates a label... Yeah no offense but this style of writing makes me go look for something else to read, whereas tptacek's style made me keep reading the (long) post..