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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[–] gerikson@awful.systems 12 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.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 13 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.

[–] zogwarg@awful.systems 8 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 ^^.

[–] pdcawley@mendeddrum.org 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.

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 year ago

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

[–] sc_griffith@awful.systems 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] sc_griffith@awful.systems 4 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately he is an atrocious narcissist

[–] pja@awful.systems 4 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.

[–] fnix@hachyderm.io 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.

[–] pja@awful.systems 4 points 1 year ago

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