I don’t have the goal of preventing my teenage daughter from having sex (firstly because I have no daughter yet, and secondly because the kind of people who would have such a goal often have a similar goal about younger sisters, and I don’t—indeed, I sometimes introduce single males to her); but I had no problem with pretending I had that goal for the sake of argument. Hell, even if Vaniver had said “simply try to cause more paperclips to exist” I would have pretended I had that goal.
BTW, I don’t think that is the real reason why people flinch at such examples. If Vaniver had said “try to win your next motorcycle race”—a goal that probably even fewer people share—would anyone have objected?
BTW, I don’t think that is the real reason why people flinch at such examples. If Vaniver had said “try to win your next motorcycle race”—a goal that probably even fewer people share—would anyone have objected?
I agree. I find it annoying when people pretend otherwise.
I don’t have the goal of preventing my teenage daughter from having sex (firstly because I have no daughter yet, and secondly because the kind of people who would have such a goal often have a similar goal about younger sisters, and I don’t—indeed, I sometimes introduce single males to her); but I had no problem with pretending I had that goal for the sake of argument. Hell, even if Vaniver had said “simply try to cause more paperclips to exist” I would have pretended I had that goal.
BTW, I don’t think that is the real reason why people flinch at such examples. If Vaniver had said “try to win your next motorcycle race”—a goal that probably even fewer people share—would anyone have objected?
I agree. I find it annoying when people pretend otherwise.