I didn’t necessarily find it surprising, just saddening. But also I disagree with your conclusion: some people at the meetup were perfectly pleasant to talk to, so empirically, there can’t really be that strong of a guarantee that Rationalism implies Spockishness.
I think I spot some of the mistakes in your reasoning: for one, I don’t think pedantry is the same as real understanding. When I said “pedantic”, I meant something like “too nitpicky about words”. Even if your goal is to achieve real understanding, it doesn’t serve you well to be too nitpicky; it would be better to be the right amount of nitpicky. I would also describe myself as depressed and poorly-adjusted, but I think I’m good at socializing. I ended up making the whole group laugh a few times one of the recent times I went.
(I’ve also been guilty of all the sins myself at one point or another, so I don’t mean to put myself above it all either, but I think I do them a lot less nowadays than the people I’m complaining about, so I think it’s fair to use myself as an illustration of the fact that it’s doable.)
I was making a tendency argument rather than a 100% of everyone sort of thing. I mean you’ve noticed it, I’ve noticed it and both of us would classify ourselves as hitting some of those notes. You even (not wrongly) were pedantic about my definition of pedantry. Gotta be a sign
I didn’t necessarily find it surprising, just saddening. But also I disagree with your conclusion: some people at the meetup were perfectly pleasant to talk to, so empirically, there can’t really be that strong of a guarantee that Rationalism implies Spockishness.
I think I spot some of the mistakes in your reasoning: for one, I don’t think pedantry is the same as real understanding. When I said “pedantic”, I meant something like “too nitpicky about words”. Even if your goal is to achieve real understanding, it doesn’t serve you well to be too nitpicky; it would be better to be the right amount of nitpicky. I would also describe myself as depressed and poorly-adjusted, but I think I’m good at socializing. I ended up making the whole group laugh a few times one of the recent times I went.
(I’ve also been guilty of all the sins myself at one point or another, so I don’t mean to put myself above it all either, but I think I do them a lot less nowadays than the people I’m complaining about, so I think it’s fair to use myself as an illustration of the fact that it’s doable.)
I was making a tendency argument rather than a 100% of everyone sort of thing. I mean you’ve noticed it, I’ve noticed it and both of us would classify ourselves as hitting some of those notes. You even (not wrongly) were pedantic about my definition of pedantry. Gotta be a sign