That reminds me of a quote by Freeman Dyson on Stephen Wolfram's work.
> "There's a tradition of scientists approaching senility to come up with grand, improbable theories. Wolfram is unusual in that he's doing this in his forties."
I always felt it was an unfair dismissal of someone's life's work. Maybe it was true but it didn't enrich the discussion or our understanding. I suppose it means even a respected thinker can be guilty of shallow dismissals and saying hurtful things in public about others.
It's similar to a "thought-terminating cliché", in that it just reinforces an existing opinion without adding anything, making us think deeper, or furthering the conversation.
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
That reminds me of a quote by Freeman Dyson on Stephen Wolfram's work.
> "There's a tradition of scientists approaching senility to come up with grand, improbable theories. Wolfram is unusual in that he's doing this in his forties."
I always felt it was an unfair dismissal of someone's life's work. Maybe it was true but it didn't enrich the discussion or our understanding. I suppose it means even a respected thinker can be guilty of shallow dismissals and saying hurtful things in public about others.
It's similar to a "thought-terminating cliché", in that it just reinforces an existing opinion without adding anything, making us think deeper, or furthering the conversation.