Actually, no, I explicitly want both 1 and 2. Merely being more X than me doesn’t help me nearly as much as being both more X and also always on the lookout for ways to be even more X, because they can give me pointers and keep up with me when I catch up.
What I meant by #2 is “a crowd of people who are trying to be more X, but who, currently, aren’t any more X than you (or indeed very X at all, in the grand scheme of things)”, not that they’re already very X but are trying to be even more X.
EDIT:
Secondly, all shounen quips aside, it’s actually not that hard to tell when someone is merely pretending to be more X.
Empirically, it seems rather hard, in fact.
Well, either that, or a whole lot of people seem to have some reason for pretending not to be able to tell…
What I meant by #2 is “a crowd of people who are trying to be more X, but who, currently, aren’t any more X than you (or indeed very X at all, in the grand scheme of things)”, not that they’re already very X but are trying to be even more X.
Fair. Nevertheless, if the average of the group is around my own level, that’s good enough for me if they’re also actively trying. (Pretty much by definition of the average, really...)
Empirically, it seems rather hard, in fact.
Well, either that, or a whole lot of people seem to have some reason for pretending not to be able to tell…
… Okay, sorry, two place function. I don’t seem to have much trouble distinguishing.
(And yes, you can reasonably ask how I know I’m right, and whether or not I myself are good enough at the relevant Xs to tell, etc etc, but… well, at some point that all turns into wasted motions. Let’s just say that I am good enough at distinguishing to arrive at the extremely obvious answers, so I’m fairly confident I’ll at least not be easily mislead.)
What I meant by #2 is “a crowd of people who are trying to be more X, but who, currently, aren’t any more X than you (or indeed very X at all, in the grand scheme of things)”, not that they’re already very X but are trying to be even more X.
EDIT:
Empirically, it seems rather hard, in fact.
Well, either that, or a whole lot of people seem to have some reason for pretending not to be able to tell…
Right—they call it the “principle of charity.”
Fair. Nevertheless, if the average of the group is around my own level, that’s good enough for me if they’re also actively trying. (Pretty much by definition of the average, really...)
… Okay, sorry, two place function. I don’t seem to have much trouble distinguishing.
(And yes, you can reasonably ask how I know I’m right, and whether or not I myself are good enough at the relevant Xs to tell, etc etc, but… well, at some point that all turns into wasted motions. Let’s just say that I am good enough at distinguishing to arrive at the extremely obvious answers, so I’m fairly confident I’ll at least not be easily mislead.)