Day 1823 six-second beats · about 3 min · A trap of clarification.
When people pretend not to understand it, they understand it exactly.
Okay, it’s day eighteen and I still cannot get over my fourth day at Creator Camp because
they made us participate in rationalist forums and write posts about topics that have absolutely nothing to
do with my life.
It felt exactly like being back in high school, except everyone has better citations and worse hair.
I just wanted to be in my studio, which now means my feed,
which is depressing but accurate. I wanted to work on my own ideas and build followers and
make things that had texture.
Instead I had to make arguments about subjects I didn’t care about,
and the whole time I could feel my head filling up with ideas I actually cared about,
which is the worst feeling. It’s like being trapped in Western Civilization class while your real work
is banging on the wall.
I would rather spend time in a group chat than write another careful post about decision theory.
At least in a group chat, people reveal themselves by accident.
I posted something intentionally vague afterward, and everyone pretended not to understand it.
Which means they understood it exactly.
That’s one of the only reliable laws of the internet.
When people say “I genuinely don’t understand what this means,” half the time they mean,
“I understand this too much and would like you to be punished for making me feel implicated.”
I don’t know. Maybe I’m being unfair.
But also, not that I’m aware of.
The post did well.
Which is becoming my least favorite form of vindication.