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Comment by angrais | Hacker News Reader

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angrais

I'm confused... Are you suggesting Einstein was not human, e.g., an alien?

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I'm surprised that I'm having to explain this to multiple people but yes, it's just a joke.

Well, I enjoyed seeing the ridiculous responses you got… so thank you :D

Weirdest 30 minutes of my life. Wow.

Einstein aside, the jury is still out on a few Martians: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)

People without rare skills often rationalize the skills of others as superhuman. It’s an illusion, but a powerful one.

I don’t have any particularly rare skills either, and I made peace with that long ago. It helps you like yourself for what you do have.

Notice how cynical the tone is of the parent comment. It’s usually a sign that something is wrong.

It's... a joke. Yikes.

What’s the punchline?

You're projecting a lot of weird insecurities onto a throwaway joke about Einstein being an alien because his achievements were Out Of This World. Clearly no one thinks Einstein was an actual alien. It's remarkable that I'm actually having to type this out.

Relax stranger, there's no weird Freudian argument to be found here.

I wasn’t talking about your Einstein portion. Your whole comment was cynical.

If you don’t want to discuss it, that’s fine. But it’s not up to everyone else.

I think joining a YC startup to disrupt the food industry is a pretty interesting thing. Most people spend their lives not disrupting anything at all. It doesn’t make them worse people, but it would be nice if they’d not snipe at people who do those things.

MY cynical comment is your point of contention? In response to the absurdly cynical article we're discussing in the first place? The one literally called 'Fuck Your Miracle Year'?

You have nothing to discuss which is why there isn't a discussion to be had here. You attacked me with an incredibly weird reaction to joking about Einstein being an alien, then doubled down and demanded I explain humor to you.

Both articles are devoid of any actual substance, I'm sorry to have brought this to your attention.

“This article is pretty bad. I’ll make it worse by acting equally poorly in the comments.” Is that your logic?

I do have things to discuss — your behavior, and why you’re so aggressive.

You remember when you attacked a stranger and suggested there was something fundamentally wrong with that person as a human because you didn't like their comment?

You might want to work on that. Self-awareness can be your next project!

I don’t think you’re arguing in good faith as “out of this world” did not appear until this comment.

This would be similar to calling Einstein a cow, then waiting an hour to say it’s because he’s outstanding in his field.

So in your mind it makes more sense that I was genuinely calling Einstein an alien? That the hyperbole of calling someone an alien didn't possibly register as being in jest?

Do you wait for the comedian to explain the joke before you're able to clarify their position?

I don't think you're commenting in good faith because none of the alternatives for what I could've meant make any sense.

Good comedians don’t need to explain their jokes. Good jokes don’t need to be explained. Yet here we are.

The joke police are ruthless today. Just let me pay the fine, surely it's easier than having to convince people I don't actually think Einstein was an alien.

Tesla? Actually an alien.

(I'm kidding please stop).

I suspect these are people who think you're an actor for a nation state who accidentally let slip something s/he knows about Einstein being an alien.

I was basically accused of being a Russian agent on here once for using the word "Boomer" while referring to a model of car that only that generation would have remembered.

There's a smattering of extra crispy ESR-style hackers on here that occasionally trips over something you might not expect them to.

The fact is that this person did not use the word alien in their original "joke" - they wrote "That's assuming Einstein was even human." They then proceeded to act like a bully or abuser would act - "Oh, it was a joke! I meant it as a joke and I forgot to drop the punchline until almost an hour later! You are so dumb for thinking otherwise!" As an older sibling, this is something straight out of older sibling 101 and I picked up on it immediately when I saw the interaction between sillysaurusx and oldstrangers.

There is no weird conspiracy here, there was just someone acting in an uncivil manner who was called out on it and who then kept things going.

I was actually expecting the joke to fall back on the fact that he was indeed a completely legal alien. Because he was, and that is humor.

;)

"That's assuming Einstein was even human."

If English is your native language and you interpret that literally, then yeah, I don't know what to tell you.

The downvotes for you and the rest of the people that took that literally should also probably indicate that the majority of people thought you were being ridiculous. Yet... you continue on.

That's pretty impressive. I wish I knew if Einstein was actually an alien.

Also I forget that a lot of engineer types take a very rigid approach to language.

"Get eggs while you're at the store!"

He's still there to this day...

This thread just keeps getting weirder. Am I on HN?

That's what they want you to believe.

The moth went in because "the light was on", which is vernacular for "open for business", but it has a double meaning because moths are attracted to light at night. The punchline itself is admittedly weak -- the humor comes from the fact that you listened to a lengthy story that turned out to be a really bad joke.

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