A contrarian isn’t one who always objects - that’s a confirmist of a different sort. A contrarian reasons independently, from the ground up, and resists pressure to conform.

  • Naval Ravikant
  • 12 Posts
  • 747 Comments
Joined 5 months ago
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Cake day: January 30th, 2025

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  • You’re doing a lot of dodging here. The original comment you made wasn’t a neutral “observation” about AI’s impact on cognition - it was a blanket dismissal of people who criticize wokeness by claiming they’re bots. That’s textbook ad hominem: attacking the people instead of engaging with what they’re saying.

    Since then, you’ve shifted the conversation multiple times - from AI and cognition, to whether “worldview” is the right word, to tone and intent - none of which address my original criticism: that dismissing someone as a bot simply for expressing a particular opinion is intellectually lazy and corrosive to actual discussion.

    You can claim it’s just “an observation” all you want, but the reality is that you made a personal attack in place of an argument. I’m not criticizing you for being mean - I’m criticizing you for sidestepping the discussion entirely.

    If you think critics of wokeness are wrong, then show why. Don’t just insult them and pretend that counts as insight.





  • Yes, really. You’re effectively saying “everyone who disagrees with my worldview is a bot,” which is a textbook example of ad hominem - dismissing a position based on who is assumed to hold it rather than engaging with the argument itself. That kind of framing is both delusional and extremely bad faith.

    To your question: no, what I said isn’t ad hominem. Criticizing someone for making an ad hominem isn’t the same thing. I’m not using a personal attack to avoid addressing your argument - I’m pointing out that you’re using personal attacks to avoid having one. There’s a difference between attacking someone instead of responding to their point and calling out someone for refusing to make one.





  • Everything you do changes your brain activity.

    This isn’t about using ChatGPT broadly, but specifically about the difference between writing an essay with the help of an LLM versus doing it without. And in this case, I think it all comes down to how you use it. If you just have it write the essay for you, then of course it won’t stimulate your brain to the same extent - that’s like hiring someone to go to the gym for you.

    Personally, the way I use it to help with my writing is by doing all the writing myself first. Only after that do I let it check for grammatical errors and help improve the clarity and flow by making minor structural adjustments - while keeping the tone and message of my original draft intact.

    For me, the purpose of writing is to convert abstract thoughts into language and pass that information along, hoping the reader understands it well enough that it forms the same idea in their mind. If ChatGPT can help untangle my word salad and make that process more effective, I welcome it.