the sentence I quote could have made the same point (and been more accurate) if postmodernist/relativism was omitted entirely.
The point of that sentence was that postmodernists/relativists have emphasized something. Removing “postmodernists/relativists” from that sentence removes the entire point of the sentence. The comment was about what mainstream folks have talked about.
In particular, why was the label (inaccurately) applied to a position that Eliezer just demonstrated was false?
It was not. The label was applied to people who noticed something that Eliezer also noticed. He did not even say that postmodernists/relativists think that is the correct use of the word “true”. If anything, it was praise for postmodernists/relativists for having already covered something that Eliezer wanted to talk about.
My mental model of Eliezer Yudkowsky is that he thinks all postmodernism is nonsense—as others have noted. If he intended to say something equivalent to “Postmodernist got this point right” then what he wrote is not how I expect he would say it. Further, the attack that I am reading into his words is a standard understanding of postmodernism in this community.
But the community seems to agree with you more than I—so I’m adjusting slightly in favor of me misreading Eliezer’s intent.
The point of that sentence was that postmodernists/relativists have emphasized something. Removing “postmodernists/relativists” from that sentence removes the entire point of the sentence. The comment was about what mainstream folks have talked about.
It was not. The label was applied to people who noticed something that Eliezer also noticed. He did not even say that postmodernists/relativists think that is the correct use of the word “true”. If anything, it was praise for postmodernists/relativists for having already covered something that Eliezer wanted to talk about.
My mental model of Eliezer Yudkowsky is that he thinks all postmodernism is nonsense—as others have noted. If he intended to say something equivalent to “Postmodernist got this point right” then what he wrote is not how I expect he would say it. Further, the attack that I am reading into his words is a standard understanding of postmodernism in this community.
But the community seems to agree with you more than I—so I’m adjusting slightly in favor of me misreading Eliezer’s intent.
I certainly read it as “postmodernists notice that the word true is used as mere emphasis ”.
Your interpretation doesn’t exactly align with the essence of postmodernism (as I see it, I’m no expert).