Yes. In an ideal world everything interesting and important would be comprehensible to a ten-year-old. But since we don’t live in an ideal world and many interesting and important ideas require difficult concepts and complex vocabulary we can be pleased with this evidence that we are rather unique in our ability and propensity to talk about important, difficult ideas.
I have no idea how google’s algorithms work. If they’re counting syllables per word or evaluating vocabulary then ranking as advanced is evidence for both the claim that we use too much jargon and the claim that we talk about difficult and complex ideas. But that isn’t the only evidence to consider. We’ve both read much of Less Wrong and can evaluate the difficulty and complexity of the ideas we discuss here. Do you not think we talk about difficult and complex ideas here? If so, what makes you think the ‘advanced’ rating is a product of poor writing rather than attempts to grapple with complexity?
I bet my use of the word ‘algorithm’ in my first sentence increases our rating. Would you like to suggest another word to replace it?
Yes. In an ideal world everything interesting and important would be comprehensible to a ten-year-old. But since we don’t live in an ideal world and many interesting and important ideas require difficult concepts and complex vocabulary we can be pleased with this evidence that we are rather unique in our ability and propensity to talk about important, difficult ideas.
It’s not evidence of any such thing. Read Orwell’s Politics And The English Language—http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm . Every example of bad writing he gives there would show up as ‘advanced’.
I have no idea how google’s algorithms work. If they’re counting syllables per word or evaluating vocabulary then ranking as advanced is evidence for both the claim that we use too much jargon and the claim that we talk about difficult and complex ideas. But that isn’t the only evidence to consider. We’ve both read much of Less Wrong and can evaluate the difficulty and complexity of the ideas we discuss here. Do you not think we talk about difficult and complex ideas here? If so, what makes you think the ‘advanced’ rating is a product of poor writing rather than attempts to grapple with complexity?
I bet my use of the word ‘algorithm’ in my first sentence increases our rating. Would you like to suggest another word to replace it?
‘method’, or maybe ‘system’