In the dialogue between “YOU” and ALEX, not only does ALEX not have a place in their mind for “look up” to land, YOU does not seem to have a place in their mind for that fact to land. YOU just keeps on repeating “look up” and “you are not looking up yet”, without noticing even after six repetitions that he is offering nothing that ALEX can use. Scott’s green bat does the same thing in saying “get out of the car”. Illusion of transparency, in spades.
I think it’s really uncharitable to read that dialogue as a description of anything like an optimal attempt to get Alex to look up; it starts “in your excitement” for a reason. Read it as a description of a person’s internal experience of being able to look up and then being frustrated at how difficult it is to communicate that to Alex. Instead of asking “how could I attack this person’s reasoning as much as possible?” you could be asking something more like “what kind of experience would cause a person to be so excited, in this particular way, that they would try repeatedly to explain that experience, in this particular way, without remembering to pause to come up with a good way to explain it first?”
It’s an attempt to get Alex to look up, but a completely unsuccessful one. As Alex—or to drop the analogy, as me reading Valentine’s article—I am never impressed just by someone’s enthusiasm. That way lies susceptibility to clickbait. As I said in my other comment, I look forward to the promised next instalment.
In the dialogue between “YOU” and ALEX, not only does ALEX not have a place in their mind for “look up” to land, YOU does not seem to have a place in their mind for that fact to land. YOU just keeps on repeating “look up” and “you are not looking up yet”, without noticing even after six repetitions that he is offering nothing that ALEX can use. Scott’s green bat does the same thing in saying “get out of the car”. Illusion of transparency, in spades.
I think it’s really uncharitable to read that dialogue as a description of anything like an optimal attempt to get Alex to look up; it starts “in your excitement” for a reason. Read it as a description of a person’s internal experience of being able to look up and then being frustrated at how difficult it is to communicate that to Alex. Instead of asking “how could I attack this person’s reasoning as much as possible?” you could be asking something more like “what kind of experience would cause a person to be so excited, in this particular way, that they would try repeatedly to explain that experience, in this particular way, without remembering to pause to come up with a good way to explain it first?”
It’s an attempt to get Alex to look up, but a completely unsuccessful one. As Alex—or to drop the analogy, as me reading Valentine’s article—I am never impressed just by someone’s enthusiasm. That way lies susceptibility to clickbait. As I said in my other comment, I look forward to the promised next instalment.