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When I said this, I was mostly talking about Christopher Alexander. It seems the architecture community think his buildings ... aren't ... very ... good?

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Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

Jul 6, 2021

It is a pity that in many domains that we are interested in, the best practitioners are not the best theorists, and the best theorists are not the best practitioners.

Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

Jul 7, 2021

I was talking to an architect friend, and she was like "I've literally never heard of him."

Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

Jul 7, 2021

And then after Googling a bit, she said "ok he seems like a total theorist, not a real practitioner." Which, if you know anything about me, probably ranks in the top 🔥 possible.

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Haha what does this mean?

Cedric Chin

@ejames_c

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@lesley_pizza

I'm deeply suspicious of people who talk a lot of profound, insightful things, but then don't seem to do very much. (To be fair to Alexander, I think he's built a few beautiful things, and I don't think I have the taste/judgement necessary to evaluate him).

4:29 AM · Jul 7, 2021Twitter Web App

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and

Mostly:

Beware What Sounds Insightful

Why the Internet has driven writing to sound ever more insightful, how writers accomplish this, and what to do about it.

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Haha I don't hate Rao's underlying argument and believe it broadly to be true -- the whole directional lock thing. Also totally agree with you about being wary of insights. I've almost completely stopped reading biz books and strategy bc of this lately. They don't actually help.