I think I’ve published 5-10 such essays, depending how you count, and… maybe all but one of them? can be traced back in part to reddit comment sections.
Reading a comment, disagreeing with it, noticing a pattern with a bunch of other comments I’ve disagreed with—oh, I don’t think there’s a name for this pattern—I’m gonna call it the Sally-Anne fallacy. (Re originality: I don’t fully remember, I think the link between the fallacy and the Sally-Anne test came from a friend of mine.)
Finding myself spending way too much time in dumb arguments, thinking about how to avoid that, coming up with a tactic for it.
Wanting to weigh in on an argument, finding that I didn’t like the social dynamics if I tried, thinking about what’s up with that and how to improve the dynamics.
I don’t know if this sort of thing is how others do it, but that’s where a lot of my inspiration seems to come from.
I think I’ve published 5-10 such essays, depending how you count, and… maybe all but one of them? can be traced back in part to reddit comment sections.
Reading a comment, disagreeing with it, noticing a pattern with a bunch of other comments I’ve disagreed with—oh, I don’t think there’s a name for this pattern—I’m gonna call it the Sally-Anne fallacy. (Re originality: I don’t fully remember, I think the link between the fallacy and the Sally-Anne test came from a friend of mine.)
Finding myself spending way too much time in dumb arguments, thinking about how to avoid that, coming up with a tactic for it.
Wanting to weigh in on an argument, finding that I didn’t like the social dynamics if I tried, thinking about what’s up with that and how to improve the dynamics.
I don’t know if this sort of thing is how others do it, but that’s where a lot of my inspiration seems to come from.