I like the marriage of the serious, the formal, the academic, the rigorous, the theoretical

with the casual, the informal, the vernacular, the everyday, the practical

 

I also despise it

Because this is yet another way in which we mislead others and ourselves

 

Not everything can be formulated rigorously

And then even if it could — it would obfuscate the common problem

Language is dynamic

Memes are even more dynamic

Real world is even more dynamic

You’ll use that fancy new neologism, or crude vernacular phrase — because it actually is the most immediate, most precise way to convey that concept

It is also most accessible

And the point of communication is, well, to communicate

 

Furthermore the CULTURAL, EMOTIONAL signal can be part of the message

Emotions often disorient, instead of clarifying. Especially in complex, strategic matters

But in many contexts they are the absolutely most immediate signal, instantly zooming in on the magnitude and the character of the problem

 

Likewise cultural grounding

For someone unfamiliar with the culture — the culture-specific references / shorthands are confusing

However to those inside that culture — they are immediately clear

That clarity would otherwise require far more sentences to convey

 

But this is where advantages end, and traps begin

 

A serious person is interested in reality

Mostly for his own gain — and indeed one’s own gain is the greatest motivator to actually come in contact with reality

Once you become interested in reality — you naturally are also interested in learning to model it accurately

Including with language

Therefore you naturally adopt a richer epistemology, comprising broader range of concepts

And a richer vocabulary

Concepts and words have meaning

 

That same serious person may, as I described, use casual phrases and concepts

Indeed a truly serious person should be MORE likely to use those common phrases and expressions

Because if gauge of seriousness is contact with reality — then naturally such person would also have intimate contact with the world around them

Which is, on the ground level, more concerned with immediate problems, practicality, emotions and drives — than it is concerned with theories and intellectual neatness

An ivory tower academic is not necessarily a serious person. He may be serious in regards to coherence of his theories. But he may be very unserious about the real world

 

But this marriage of the SERIOUS and the CASUAL, like I said, can be dangerous — the moment one starts to self-servingly mix the two worlds

When you start using loose and sloppy common and memetic concepts — while considering all the contents of your ideas as SERIOUS and COHERENT and constrained by reality,

you, essentially, become a BULLSHITTER

 

You introduce into your epistemology unserious concepts — which you present as serious

You borrow the cultural capital that makes you more presentable, more relatable, makes you look more “cool”, essentially

You inveigle the primitive masses to accept you as one of their own

But you also present yourself as a serious person, a serious thinker, a serious expert, a serious leader

You flexibly embrace either side of the equation as it suits you

When your beliefs are confirmed by EVIDENCE AND REASON — you present yourself as serious and thoughtful and evidence-based

When your beliefs overlap with the prevalent memes and the common and the vulgar — you gladly present yourself as ONE OF THE COMMON, the COMMON-SENSE ONE, and not some detached egghead or a fucking nerd

 

The reality is,

You’re either serious or not

And then the concepts you use are up to you — as long as you use them seriously

Most serious people ultimately seek to separate themselves from the sloppy and the common — because they find it doesn’t enhance their signal

Some, of course, only adopt the veneer of seriousness by repeating inflated and complicated sentences with little comprehension or meaning

Some serious people don’t even have time for signal though, only action — so they will use whatever concept that furthers their ends at the time

 

But you’re either serious or not

You can’t flirt with seriousness when it suits you — then be unserious the rest of the time AND PRETEND it’s still serious

 

Therefore I warn against the “relatable genius” archetype

Genius shouldn’t be too relatable, not very often

If he is — then it’s marketing

(of course the “incomprehensible genius” is even worse — serious people don’t make themselves incomprehensible on purpose)

I warn against “approachable genius”. Serious people shouldn’t be too approachable by the unserious people. You can say “hi” to them — then fuck off. Serious people don’t have time to waste

Btw noticed how I used casual language?

 

Perhaps the greatest tell on the FAKE seriousness, the “relatable and approachable seriousness” — is if they also CRITIQUE seriousness, while EXTOLLING the VIRTUES OF THE COMMON SENSE

They critique experts

They critique institutions

They critique the elites

While themselves clearly passing up for experts and elites

Themselves clearly passing up for someone NATURALLY HIGHER in the hierarchy, in their domain. That’s what EXPERT means. That’s what ELITE means.

True expert does not talk shit on experts

True elite doesn’t talk shit on elites

Definitely not to the common, mediocre people, who love to gloat in the secret superiority of their ignorance and “normality”

He knows he’s not one of them

He doesn’t want to be one of them

He’s an expert, he’s elite — that’s by definition not one of them.

If anything — if the experts critiques experts — it’s AIMED AT EXPERTS. Therefore it’s in the LANGUAGE of the experts.

It’s not aimed at you and me, who are no fucking experts, and have no fucking clue what they are talking about

Once you’re “in” — you no longer care what’s going on “outside”, and what they think about it. You know the action is “in”, and if you can contribute there — you do

A string physicist is not interested in what YOUTUBE thinks about his new idea. He’s interested in what other string physicists think about it

If he talks to you and talks in your language — it’s so that you maybe grasp 0.1% of what he knows. Not to convince you that he’s JUST LIKE YOU and just a COMMON SENSE GUY, and not just a nerd