The “actually” implies that the target has already made an indication of reading LW, and that the speaker is asking for verification of that indication.
It could also imply insulting skepticism. One reading of the scene could be “your presense here implies you read LW and consider yourself a rationalist or aspiring rationalist; I find that unlikely on account of your being female, and hereby question it.”
That was actually my first reading, before I mentally corrected for below-average LW social skills and above-average LW intelligence. I think it more likely a LWer would make a social flub than that they would mentally execute “female implies non-rational in absense of further evidence (such as being a LW reader); non-rational implies WTH are you doing here?”
But I don’t know that I could have done that correction in real-time! At risk of mind-reading, the original poster may have had the same initial impression. If she believed the intent was the insulting version above, then her rather harsh response makes a lot more sense.
In a gender-skewed environment it’s best not to say anything that emphasizes someone’s gender. The stereotype threat alone would tend to reduce me to awkward mumbling. And your first reading is certainly the only one I would have come up with in realtime.
Submitter C’s story has lowered the already-low probability that I will ever attend a LW meetup.
It could also imply insulting skepticism. One reading of the scene could be “your presense here implies you read LW and consider yourself a rationalist or aspiring rationalist; I find that unlikely on account of your being female, and hereby question it.”
That was actually my first reading, before I mentally corrected for below-average LW social skills and above-average LW intelligence. I think it more likely a LWer would make a social flub than that they would mentally execute “female implies non-rational in absense of further evidence (such as being a LW reader); non-rational implies WTH are you doing here?”
But I don’t know that I could have done that correction in real-time! At risk of mind-reading, the original poster may have had the same initial impression. If she believed the intent was the insulting version above, then her rather harsh response makes a lot more sense.
In a gender-skewed environment it’s best not to say anything that emphasizes someone’s gender. The stereotype threat alone would tend to reduce me to awkward mumbling. And your first reading is certainly the only one I would have come up with in realtime.
Submitter C’s story has lowered the already-low probability that I will ever attend a LW meetup.