So Q=inner alignment? Seems like person 2 not only pointed to inner alignment explicitly (so it can no longer be “some implicit assumption that you might not even notice you have”), but also said that it “seems to contain almost all of the difficulty of alignment to me”. He’s clearly identified inner alignment as a crux, rather than as something meant “to be cynical and dismissive”. At that point, it would have been prudent of person 1 to shift his focus onto inner alignment and explain why he thinks it is not hard.
Note that your post suddenly introduces “Y” without defining it. I think you meant “X”.
So Q=inner alignment? Seems like person 2 not only pointed to inner alignment explicitly (so it can no longer be “some implicit assumption that you might not even notice you have”), but also said that it “seems to contain almost all of the difficulty of alignment to me”. He’s clearly identified inner alignment as a crux, rather than as something meant “to be cynical and dismissive”. At that point, it would have been prudent of person 1 to shift his focus onto inner alignment and explain why he thinks it is not hard.
Note that your post suddenly introduces “Y” without defining it. I think you meant “X”.