this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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SneerClub

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Hurling ordure at the TREACLES, especially those closely related to LessWrong.

AI-Industrial-Complex grift is fine as long as it sufficiently relates to the AI doom from the TREACLES. (Though TechTakes may be more suitable.)

This is sneer club, not debate club. Unless it's amusing debate.

[Especially don't debate the race scientists, if any sneak in - we ban and delete them as unsuitable for the server.]

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Taleb dunking on IQ “research” at length. Technically a seriouspost I guess.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Side note, I know Taleb is widely appreciated, but man this is some badly written stuff. Is all his stuff like this? I realize blog post != book, but c'mon, some pride in craftmanship is in order.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (5 children)

yes, way too much of it is. Taleb is extremely smart, but nobody is as smart as Taleb thinks he is.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think the most bitter part is him taking pride in his "real life" intelligence and his condemnation of test takers as "lifeless bureaucrats who can muster sterile motivation". There is a callous hubris there, I suspect fueled by resentment of past interactions with quacks and/or holier than thou academics, the remedy isn't becoming holier than thou in turn.

Sneering is fun/cathartic, othering less so.

NOTE: As a mindless drone pencil pusher myself, prone to to investigate things that don't clearly matter immediately to the "real world"; I might be a tad defensive here ^^.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

@dgerard @gerikson The worst (if a bit funny at times) are his tweets, where he often just slings insults at people. Quality wise it certainly is a bit books>blog>tweets.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

@dgerard or as insufferable. I couldn't get more than half a chapter into Black Swan because his writing style was so damned offputting.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

he really gives off that condensed "stick it to the man" vibe

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

All the same content is in fooled by randomness and it's far far shorter

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately he is an atrocious narcissist

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

High-end stats is kind of Taleb’s thing, so he gets to be as insufferable as he likes dunking on IQiots imo.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

@pja @dgerard Taleb’s like that with just about anyone he dislikes for whatever reason tho, so it’s not just about high-end stats or the caliper-curious.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, he needs an editor. But the relentless dunking on IQiots is worth the verbiage imo.