One thing I didn’t say in that thread that’s probably worth adding:
I think a lot of my most contentious posts over the years come down to me arguing against the vibe of the sequences and people trying desperately to refute me by pointing to the content while actively giving off the vibe and me flailing in desperation to get them to see that they’re failing to actual live the things they’re claiming to believe. I’m not sure it always came off that way, but that’s certainly what it felt like.
The only reason my posts are less contentious now is I’ve given up on trying to directly point out the vibe/content mismatch. I instead come at it with more subtlety and stick to the content. I’m not sure if this is actually better or not, though. I mean sure, don’t have tons of people downvoting me in the comments and long comment threads where people talk past each other, but also maybe some people who need to hear they are living the vibe rather than the content don’t get that message because it isn’t made directly enough.
This framing might at least be a way for me to return to my old ways. I can just say “hey, look, I don’t care what you have to say about the content of the sequences, I’m talking about the rationalist vibe and what’s wrong with it”.
One thing I didn’t say in that thread that’s probably worth adding:
I think a lot of my most contentious posts over the years come down to me arguing against the vibe of the sequences and people trying desperately to refute me by pointing to the content while actively giving off the vibe and me flailing in desperation to get them to see that they’re failing to actual live the things they’re claiming to believe. I’m not sure it always came off that way, but that’s certainly what it felt like.
The only reason my posts are less contentious now is I’ve given up on trying to directly point out the vibe/content mismatch. I instead come at it with more subtlety and stick to the content. I’m not sure if this is actually better or not, though. I mean sure, don’t have tons of people downvoting me in the comments and long comment threads where people talk past each other, but also maybe some people who need to hear they are living the vibe rather than the content don’t get that message because it isn’t made directly enough.
This framing might at least be a way for me to return to my old ways. I can just say “hey, look, I don’t care what you have to say about the content of the sequences, I’m talking about the rationalist vibe and what’s wrong with it”.