Wolfram's narcissism is tiring, repetitive, and doesn't belong anywhere. Let's keep that message clear and not go for "it's OK to be a jerk if you're smart."
It’s never OK to be a jerk.
But that doesn’t mean jerks have nothing of value to add to the world. No human being is perfect. If we disregarded the successes and breakthroughs of anyone who did anything bad in their lives we’d still be living in the Stone Age.
I'm not saying Wolfram is in their league, but I think the same principle applies. You salute the ideas, not the man.
If you want to criticize the person, then keep that separate.
I don't suppose you feel like engaging with my suggestion with something more than this blunt, unsupported rejection?
If you merely mean that when discussing such a piece we can remain generally calm and give room in the discussion for things other than the author's arrogance, then I agree.
I was serious that I can separate the person, so that's an existence proof.
Those of us who are mere mortals can't reliably predict ourselves to achieve perfection on complex, subjective tasks like this.
You find your own self-confidence to be highly convincing to the point of mathematical proof. Please have another think about that. And about making "clever" four-word dismissals of other people's comments.
> Those of us who are mere mortals can't reliably predict ourselves to achieve perfection on complex, subjective tasks like this.
I was able to separate the two as well without much of a problem, so...I guess I must be some sort of god too. :)