You don’t think that saying ‘very clever’ is nicer than saying ‘stupid’?
Yes. One could reach ‘very clever’ from ‘stupid’ either by adding a large amount of niceness or multiplying by a negative. Or, if ‘very clever’ is supposed to convey the meaning ‘stupid’ then one actually has to subtract niceness and add sarcasm or condescension.
Oh wait, I just had a terrible thought: what if Eliezer was initially serious, but didn’t expect anyone to take him seriously, but then n seeing people take him more seriously than expected decided to drop a hint that he was joking without saying so? AARRGGHH!
Thankfully, EY confirmed on facebook that this is a stupid theory, except that he used a nicer wording.
If for a value of ‘nicer’ for which “very clever” means “stupid”.
You don’t think that saying ‘very clever’ is nicer than saying ‘stupid’?
I think it has completely opposing informational content.
Yes. One could reach ‘very clever’ from ‘stupid’ either by adding a large amount of niceness or multiplying by a negative. Or, if ‘very clever’ is supposed to convey the meaning ‘stupid’ then one actually has to subtract niceness and add sarcasm or condescension.
Oh, seeing Eliezer’s Facebook page, I see the entire thing was probably a joke. OK.
Oh wait, I just had a terrible thought: what if Eliezer was initially serious, but didn’t expect anyone to take him seriously, but then n seeing people take him more seriously than expected decided to drop a hint that he was joking without saying so? AARRGGHH!
My model of Eliezer wouldn’t troll us that blatantly.
Then again, this is the guy who wrote Quirinius One-Level-Higher-Than-You Quirrell.