I’ve noticed this phenomenon. I always attributed it to the idea that most people gain their motivation to post via some sort of competitive attitude*, and once something ends the debate, there’s nothing much more to do but shrug it off and move on. I sometimes imagine the person struggling to respond, and then coming up with some unrelated reason it’s not worth their time, and then forgetting about it.
Also, anything sufficiently new as to be groundbreaking is often met with “meh” much, much earlier than the time anybody starts appreciating it. It’s much less common for some big insight to be recognized right away than for it to drift around in the dust for a long time, until people dig it back up later on and give it credit.
*I’m not saying their real motivation is competition. I’m just saying that’s the visceral thing that impels the action often. For example, there may be a lot of these ‘debate-ending’ posts that aren’t responded to simply because people had akrasia and didn’t get around to responding the way they would have if it was still a heated competition.
I’d like to think that this community can recognize and overcome that, accepting reasoning more readily, and realizing Singularity-type thoughts much sooner. Rather, I’ll believe this until proven otherwise. Not sure how else to motivate myself to bother trying.
I’ve noticed this phenomenon. I always attributed it to the idea that most people gain their motivation to post via some sort of competitive attitude*, and once something ends the debate, there’s nothing much more to do but shrug it off and move on. I sometimes imagine the person struggling to respond, and then coming up with some unrelated reason it’s not worth their time, and then forgetting about it.
Also, anything sufficiently new as to be groundbreaking is often met with “meh” much, much earlier than the time anybody starts appreciating it. It’s much less common for some big insight to be recognized right away than for it to drift around in the dust for a long time, until people dig it back up later on and give it credit.
*I’m not saying their real motivation is competition. I’m just saying that’s the visceral thing that impels the action often. For example, there may be a lot of these ‘debate-ending’ posts that aren’t responded to simply because people had akrasia and didn’t get around to responding the way they would have if it was still a heated competition.
I’d like to think that this community can recognize and overcome that, accepting reasoning more readily, and realizing Singularity-type thoughts much sooner. Rather, I’ll believe this until proven otherwise. Not sure how else to motivate myself to bother trying.