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I find essays written in this style to be overwrought in a way that makes them impossible to challenge (setting aside AI summarization). Is this not, in and of
by striking 2y ago
I find essays written in this style to be overwrought in a way that makes them impossible to challenge (setting aside AI summarization). Is this not, in and of itself, a form of fake thinking?
For example, some section of this essay introduces the following:
> Did evolution want to build this kind of truth engine? Well, maybe it’s complicated.
It later begins to conclude with:
> But regardless of the actual evolutionary and psychological story, here, I think my point about the abstract form of a truth engine still stands.
Why bother introducing the evopsych hypothesis if we're not actually going to stand behind it or use it in a meaningful way?
I don't even mean this particularly as a takedown, the dimensions listed are kind of interesting at least. But I find a particular sort of irony in having written so many words and having engaged in so much thought just to return to not thinking about something at all.
- vallode 2y agoThe difference here might be the rather huge gap between putting together a solid "blog post" and a solid "paper" on a subject. I agree these "types" of essays are difficult to challenge and given the sheer length of this post, it is also not accessible to _discuss_. I understand the desire to write about a topic extensively and how intimidating it might be to do so in a "scientific" way, this seems to be the middle ground. Maybe it's a seed for the author, or someone else, to develop further.