It’s a castle of humour built on the foundation “yay Eliezer Yudkowsky!” It’s a very elaborate castle, and every now and then someone still adds another turret, but none of it would exist without that foundation.
I think “tall tales” and such fill a need to create larger than life heroes and epics about them. This may have something to do with our primate nature: we need the Other to fling poop at, but also a kind of paragon tribal representation to idolize.
Idolatry is a dangerous stance, even if it is a natural stance for us to assume.
What are they about, if not humor?
I think they’re mostly about humour, but there’s a non-negligible part of “yay Eliezer Yudkowsky!” thrown in.
It’s a castle of humour built on the foundation “yay Eliezer Yudkowsky!” It’s a very elaborate castle, and every now and then someone still adds another turret, but none of it would exist without that foundation.
I think “tall tales” and such fill a need to create larger than life heroes and epics about them. This may have something to do with our primate nature: we need the Other to fling poop at, but also a kind of paragon tribal representation to idolize.
Idolatry is a dangerous stance, even if it is a natural stance for us to assume.