I think it’s really uncharitable to read that dialogue as a description of anything like an optimal attempt to get Alex to look up; it starts “in your excitement” for a reason. Read it as a description of a person’s internal experience of being able to look up and then being frustrated at how difficult it is to communicate that to Alex. Instead of asking “how could I attack this person’s reasoning as much as possible?” you could be asking something more like “what kind of experience would cause a person to be so excited, in this particular way, that they would try repeatedly to explain that experience, in this particular way, without remembering to pause to come up with a good way to explain it first?”
It’s an attempt to get Alex to look up, but a completely unsuccessful one. As Alex—or to drop the analogy, as me reading Valentine’s article—I am never impressed just by someone’s enthusiasm. That way lies susceptibility to clickbait. As I said in my other comment, I look forward to the promised next instalment.
I think it’s really uncharitable to read that dialogue as a description of anything like an optimal attempt to get Alex to look up; it starts “in your excitement” for a reason. Read it as a description of a person’s internal experience of being able to look up and then being frustrated at how difficult it is to communicate that to Alex. Instead of asking “how could I attack this person’s reasoning as much as possible?” you could be asking something more like “what kind of experience would cause a person to be so excited, in this particular way, that they would try repeatedly to explain that experience, in this particular way, without remembering to pause to come up with a good way to explain it first?”
It’s an attempt to get Alex to look up, but a completely unsuccessful one. As Alex—or to drop the analogy, as me reading Valentine’s article—I am never impressed just by someone’s enthusiasm. That way lies susceptibility to clickbait. As I said in my other comment, I look forward to the promised next instalment.