(Untitled)

[mothwentbad]

Hmmm. Is it just me, or does PZ Myers seem to be wearing himself out and losing the patience for lucid, poignant things rather than glaring, slashy things? Has he just gotten tired of having to repeat himself and now he's starting to let it show a little more or what? I mean, not that he's less right or anything, but it somehow reads as not quite

Comments

[theswede]

He's putting his writing effort into his book. I wouldn't be surprised if his blog changes for the better once the book has been mashed out.

But I also expect that keeping to run into the precisely same arguments and events from the same people leads to a kind of fatigue ... it's not like the stupid washes off no matter how hard PZ tries.

[mothwentbad]

If only it would.

And I hope the book is everything I had hoped it could be. The best-case scenario is that he gets it just right and no one ever has to actually talk to me again if they want to know what's up with all that. Some of his older posts were great.

[rogerdr]

There's also the possibility that some of what you thought was great about his older posts was due to the blog being new to you. I still love watching "The Atheist Experience", but Matt no longer seems like the expert debater I once thought he was.

[mothwentbad]

That's very possible. But I'm going to go to bed now instead of killing my dreams.

[st_rev]

Myers makes me uneasy, in that he talks about politics in the same tone that he talks about science.

[theswede]

Since his political view is very vanilla middle of the road, that isn't much of a bother to me, even if such a stance is a tad scary in itself. Shermer is a lot more scary in that regard, with his certain belief that the Magic of the Market will cure all ills.

[mothwentbad]

Hmmm. I don't think he'd pass for "vanilla middle of the road" here in the US.

[theswede]

True, he's a bit too right wing, really, with his opposition to big government and all.

[a_tergo_lupi]

He's spent an awful lot of time name-calling recently.

It's not doing him any favors.

[mothwentbad]

I guess it's better than nothing, though. I mean, I still more or less agree with most of what he says. I just don't think anyone on the other side will be as likely to seriously consider things with fresh eyes this way. As mentioned above, maybe the extra care and thoughtfulness is all going into the book. This would be better, since that's supposed to be the definitive global declaration, whereas blogs are a little more free to choir preach if they want.

Conditioning is unconscious

[bec_87rb]

There is also a normative effect under which people who write or speak to a discrete audience unconsciously begin to tailor their speech or writing to whatever gets them the most pleasant feedback from that audience.

In other words, if the readers comment with a "w00t!' and a "Right On, Brother Myers!" to a certain type of writing, he might tend to do more of that because he is being operantly conditioned to do so.

If you notice that he has drifted gradually, that falls in line with the pace that occurs with conditioning - over time, new rewarded behaviors begin to displace old ones.

Re: Conditioning is unconscious

[mothwentbad]

Hmmm, I don't know. I think he's gotten plenty of positive feedback from the more thoughtful, rounded-out uncompromising old posts. Possibly even much more encouraging than routine cheers and jeers. It's probably just the usual cutting of corners everyone is wont to do in their lives.

[cyranothe2nd]

'glaring, slashy things'

ROFL, am I the only one that thought of slash fan fic when Moth wrote this???

[mothwentbad]

So far, you're the only one to admit it!