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Comment by poly2it | Hacker News Reader

For some reason I find Claude's writing often has an oddly condescending tone when it tries to be empathetic.

“Every tool is scar tissue over a real wound. Follow the wounds, and the map draws itself. THE ONE IDEA THAT UNLOCKS EVERYTHING” uh-huh

I have noticed myself having a visceral reaction to the AI tells now, somewhere between disgust and anger. And I am not an angry man and I like AI! There is just something about the voice that is incredibly off-putting, like a know-it-all friend who just ripped a giant fart. It is annoyingly correct and also smells really bad.

I don't know how else to put it, but it has this built in condescension that rides along when someone is hitting you with too many clever metaphors. Like it's TED talking at you or something, it just frames everything in a tone of authoritative/lecturing style. Very off putting just as if an actual person did it you would feel irritated by them

It sounds like an overly earnest TEDx talker leaning over you talking about something inconsequential as if it’s the most mic-droppingly insightful thing in the world.

I imagine they're going for avuncular but a lot of us as adult engineers receive it as patronizing.

To me it bears similarities to the writings of Rebecca Hazelton:

https://rebeccahazelton.com/

Claude in general is condescending and often assumes it knows better than you.

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