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Ok, I have to ask this, and I apologize in advance for it being out of topic. How on earth are you well informed on so many topics spanning different fields of

Ok, I have to ask this, and I apologize in advance for it being out of topic. How on earth are you well informed on so many topics spanning different fields of science and literature? Your comments are amazingly well informed, and I would like to know how you do it.

coldtea 13y ago
Dr. Peter Venkman: Ray, pretend for a moment that I don't know anything about metallurgy, engineering, or physics, and just tell me what the hell is going on. Dr Ray Stantz: You never studied. (I think the answer is simple: he has an interest in all those things, so he follows them).
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cdr 13y ago
He knows how to sound informed, which is the important part. Large walls of text, big words, selective citation of valid sounding papers.
- trentnix 13y ago
  He's probably also disciplined enough not to sound off on topics that he doesn't know anything about. I was consulting (software) at a client site and one of the employees at the client remarked that I seemed to know everything about everything. I just replied that it was a trick - I only talk about the things I'm informed on, and when a question came up on a topic I didn't know anything about, I just redirected the conversation back to my expertise. I had a hammer and worked hard to make everything a nail. :)
  - berntb 13y ago
    So... when you're not a consultant with a need to impress people, you instead redirect the conversation to subjects other people know, which interests you? :-)
tokenadult 13y ago
[Blush] Thanks for your kind question. Let me first of all say that there is a lot that is discussed here on HN that I know nothing about, and in threads on those topics, I am in lurk mode, learning from the rest of you. So thanks. On some topics, I have a different perspective just because I am older than most people here, so I remember history that other participants have to read about. Genetics research to be a responsible popular author about that research is part of my work, so this topic was work-related. I got lucky over the weekend, because I had just looked up the human population research articles to get ready for some contentious editing on Wikipedia, and thus all of the sources were at hand. Some of the other topics I comment about are also work-related, or related to my former work or my higher education degrees (neither of which were in computer science).
simonebrunozzi 13y ago
qubitsam, let me introduce you to my favorite commenter on HN: tokenadult :)

coldtea 13y ago

Dr. Peter Venkman: Ray, pretend for a moment that I don't know anything about metallurgy, engineering, or physics, and just tell me what the hell is going on. Dr Ray Stantz: You never studied. (I think the answer is simple: he has an interest in all those things, so he follows them).

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cdr 13y ago

He knows how to sound informed, which is the important part. Large walls of text, big words, selective citation of valid sounding papers.

trentnix 13y ago
He's probably also disciplined enough not to sound off on topics that he doesn't know anything about. I was consulting (software) at a client site and one of the employees at the client remarked that I seemed to know everything about everything. I just replied that it was a trick - I only talk about the things I'm informed on, and when a question came up on a topic I didn't know anything about, I just redirected the conversation back to my expertise. I had a hammer and worked hard to make everything a nail. :)
- berntb 13y ago
  So... when you're not a consultant with a need to impress people, you instead redirect the conversation to subjects other people know, which interests you? :-)

tokenadult 13y ago

[Blush] Thanks for your kind question. Let me first of all say that there is a lot that is discussed here on HN that I know nothing about, and in threads on those topics, I am in lurk mode, learning from the rest of you. So thanks. On some topics, I have a different perspective just because I am older than most people here, so I remember history that other participants have to read about. Genetics research to be a responsible popular author about that research is part of my work, so this topic was work-related. I got lucky over the weekend, because I had just looked up the human population research articles to get ready for some contentious editing on Wikipedia, and thus all of the sources were at hand. Some of the other topics I comment about are also work-related, or related to my former work or my higher education degrees (neither of which were in computer science).

simonebrunozzi 13y ago

qubitsam, let me introduce you to my favorite commenter on HN: tokenadult :)