It often takes a special effort to -notice- that a criticism isn’t meaningful, especially when it is correct
True—but I think it’s a very useful skill to develop and practice.
pedantry tends to get upvoted
And that is probably a feature of the local culture by now, heavily supported by the meme of how you can’t make even one tiny little itty bitty mistake when programming the AI because if you do it’s all paperclips all the time.
I’d lean towards implementing an applause-lights keyword
I call such things “technically correct, but irrelevant”, but I don’t think this expression functions well as an applause-lights switch. Ideas?
The best opposite to “pedantry” I can come up with is “pragmatic.” Pragmatism is a relatively good value on Less Wrong, but I don’t see a good application.
Yours seems good. It concedes the argument attempted to be raised, shutting off further discussion—a very desirable quality when dealing with somebody who is specifically looking for something to argue with—and rebuts the fundamental problem, redirecting future attention there. (Minor shift for reasons I have trouble explicating, but which seems a stronger, slightly harsher version of the sentiment—“Technically correct. Also irrelevant.”) If it’s used appropriately, and consistently, I think it could become an applause-light within the sub-culture here.
True—but I think it’s a very useful skill to develop and practice.
And that is probably a feature of the local culture by now, heavily supported by the meme of how you can’t make even one tiny little itty bitty mistake when programming the AI because if you do it’s all paperclips all the time.
I call such things “technically correct, but irrelevant”, but I don’t think this expression functions well as an applause-lights switch. Ideas?
The best opposite to “pedantry” I can come up with is “pragmatic.” Pragmatism is a relatively good value on Less Wrong, but I don’t see a good application.
Yours seems good. It concedes the argument attempted to be raised, shutting off further discussion—a very desirable quality when dealing with somebody who is specifically looking for something to argue with—and rebuts the fundamental problem, redirecting future attention there. (Minor shift for reasons I have trouble explicating, but which seems a stronger, slightly harsher version of the sentiment—“Technically correct. Also irrelevant.”) If it’s used appropriately, and consistently, I think it could become an applause-light within the sub-culture here.