Everyone’s in a mood on LW today, it seems, and I don’t exclude myself. I meant to come across with a much lighter tone than that, to be sure, and I don’t mean to commit the sin that C S Lewis describes so well in “The Screwtape Letters” of insisting that one’s own words be taken strictly at face value while reading every possible connotation and side meaning into the words of others.
But I really do think that using the term “scam” in this way is inadvisable, and that the links you provide are using the term in a hyperbolic way, to smuggle in the implication of insincerity on the part of the providers without proof. I really think that “scam” denotes the wrong concept and certainly strongly carries the wrong connotations. whpearson’s suggestion of “boondoggle” is a good one.
I’m not sure how to address what you say about “status”. But I like to think that one of the things we’re better at here is conceding gracefully and accepting it gracefully. If I’ve given the discussion an emotional charge that makes that difficult, that wasn’t my intent.
I voted you up. Your latest comment left me feeling expansive rather than defensive, and that feels like a much better place to be rationally.
So I’m not sure why, in this expansive mood, I’m stll not willing to fully agree. For now I’ll call it “stubbornness of purpose”—I do want to ‘smuggle in’ those negative connotations while describing the negative feelings people have for cryonics—and think about whether this is a flaw in character or rationality or something more positive or neutral.
Everyone’s in a mood on LW today, it seems, and I don’t exclude myself. I meant to come across with a much lighter tone than that, to be sure, and I don’t mean to commit the sin that C S Lewis describes so well in “The Screwtape Letters” of insisting that one’s own words be taken strictly at face value while reading every possible connotation and side meaning into the words of others.
But I really do think that using the term “scam” in this way is inadvisable, and that the links you provide are using the term in a hyperbolic way, to smuggle in the implication of insincerity on the part of the providers without proof. I really think that “scam” denotes the wrong concept and certainly strongly carries the wrong connotations. whpearson’s suggestion of “boondoggle” is a good one.
I’m not sure how to address what you say about “status”. But I like to think that one of the things we’re better at here is conceding gracefully and accepting it gracefully. If I’ve given the discussion an emotional charge that makes that difficult, that wasn’t my intent.
I voted you up. Your latest comment left me feeling expansive rather than defensive, and that feels like a much better place to be rationally.
So I’m not sure why, in this expansive mood, I’m stll not willing to fully agree. For now I’ll call it “stubbornness of purpose”—I do want to ‘smuggle in’ those negative connotations while describing the negative feelings people have for cryonics—and think about whether this is a flaw in character or rationality or something more positive or neutral.