Is outsize mainstream success a reliable indicator of fundamentally flawed ideas or merely sour grapes on the part of those who’ve found less success and must seek solace in nuance and subcultural acclaim? 🤔
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The conclusion you can draw from any conscientious and rigorous study of any complex phenomenon is usually “maybe, maybe not...it depends.”
In fact that’s a good definition of “complex phenomenon”
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Little of Column A, little of Column B. (Which is to say, neither "reliable" nor "merely".)
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What’s mainstream? Is Steven Pinker a “mainstream” success?
I think TRUE celebrity-level fame has to be chased and cultivated, meaning if you devote your life to that, you don’t have time to be doing much else of value.
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Mainstream success is a series of compromises made in the service of achieving broad acceptance of previously recognizable patterns. If that's your goal then it's just as legitimate as subcultural success, if that's your goal.
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Mostly sour grapes. Antibiotics & chemotherapy drugs have outsized mainstream success and there's no shortage of people who will say they're flawed.








