[deleted] -2 points-1 points 2 years ago

I get what you're saying, but I downvote pseudointellectual trash on principle, regardless of effort. I think it contributes negatively to discussion.

josefjohann 0 points1 point 2 years ago

I read through it and I don't see any pseudointellectual trash. I see someone who is taking sides and choosing to be incredibly rude, though.

There's an important distinction between the kind of "understanding" a human or a dolphin has when it engages in abstract reasoning that is different from the kind of stimulus-response pattern recognition a honeybee has, and the article is equivocating between those two things, and it's causing people to think "wow, honeybees can count, just like humans and dolphins!"

/u/PM_ME_MY_REAL_MOM seemed to more or less be saying that honeybee-level understanding is the same as human/dolphin understanding, which seems to me to be wildly wrong for reasons /u/EvanMacIan patiently explains.

PM_ME_MY_REAL_MOM 0 points1 point 2 years ago

I agree with you that /u/EvanMacIan 's response was not intellectual trash. I'm confused because you seem to think that I think it is. I maintain my initial position internally, but I fully cop to not having the rhetorical chops, at present time, to back it up, and so I conceded. In time I will reflect on this conversation and either reinforce my existing position, or decide that I was indeed fundamentally wrong.

I'll admit my ego is a bit wounded by the accusations you're levying, if I'm interpreting them correctly.

edit: Your original reply included a reference to getting "punch-drunk on upvotes", which is why I thought this was about me - just for context.