Apr 20, 2022
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-sadly
I. The Duality Of Man
If you write more stuff like this, I think I will just gradually stop reading this blog.
For the record this is my favorite Scott essay in years.
Reading this for the first time in a long time of reading [ACX] felt like a giant waste of time.
For what it's worth, this was my favorite ACX post.
Meh:
You read through an ENTIRE BOOK of that kind of pompous, long-winded drivel?
Paul:
Just this review injected a strong acid into my mind and it's burning through everything. I'm questioning my behaviors and thought patterns and then questioning the questioning. I realized how a lot of my thoughts are geared towards looking good in front of an imaginary audience . . . I'm definitely going to read this book.
It feels like this whole review, and to a large extent the comments, are carefully tiptoeing around an obvious conclusion, occasionally glancing sideways to look at it edge-on, but carefully avoiding confronting it directly. That conclusion is: Teach/TLP is a bad writer, and has therefore written a shit book.
AL:
Okay, maybe you're just reading the bones, but holy moley there are some crackling-good insights here!
The review has successfully convinced me to not read this book.
I got about halfway through and wrote in my notebook to call my local bookstore and see if they planned to stock it/could order one for me.
I am genuinely fascinated by how divergent all of your responses are. I wonder if anyone will Aumann update towards “there might really be something here” or “it might all be obscurantist drivel” after knowing that other people think so. If not, why not?