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Academia gatekeeps knowledge by using unnecessarily complex language, alienating formats, makes it so you have to be both dedicated and culturally familiar to understand it. Rationalist writing, by contrast, is extremely accessible Feels like a similar vibe to elon and twitter

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Aella

@Aella_Girl

there's a way that elon's relationship to running twitter feels hyper direct and transparent; there's no artifice of trying to keep the knowledge away from the peasant class. The downside of this legibility is that people feel more empowered to criticize!

7:55 AM · Dec 14, 2022

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I wonder if this is part of why academia evolved away from transparency and legibility; the more you pull away from anybody being able to understand you, the more invulnerable you become; people can't easily tear you down if they don't understand what you're saying.

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WeaverWorks | @WordWeaver@mastodon.social

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Cope

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I don't really buy the claim to transparency here. I think what Elon is presenting, particularly as regards the prior regime, is pretty clearly curated with a view to crafting a particular narrative.

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Not sure this is strictly a down side. If the criticism is respectful and in good faith, the author (especially an academic) should welcome it and respond to the critic..don’t you agree?

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What is 'rationalist writing'? Thanks.

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If you think Elon's intentions are to be transparent and in good faith... I've got a bridge to sell you

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Elon has never in his life offered transparency. There are PR firms that have made bank off of presenting a perfectly curated version of him and removing all the negatives they could. His persona is neither transparent nor real.