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Comment by asdff | Hacker News Reader

It isn't surprising given how many people totally blew off assignments in english class growing up. Even pre ai, pre social media, reading was dying or already dead. Writing a close second. So many people in high powered positions sending those

"ok

Sent from my iPhone."

emails.

Many people in fact don't like doing. They like shutting off their brain. Sitting still and not using their body and letting muscles atrophy and fat pile up. AI is perfectly aligned with this disease inherent in our post survival civilization. These are the people who would have died off in the hunter gatherer era. Now we go against the forces of natural selection and what do you know, lazy nonthinking people everywhere.

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You hit the nail on the head! Today’s fast paced world demands clear, concise communication. Fear not! Artificial Intelligence (AI) can allow people to communicate more effectively, allowing them to get a few extra minutes at the gym without guilt. Would you like some tips for improving work-life balance?

(Not AI, I couldn’t resist!)

This drives me crazy when dealing with various contractors in my area. They often only answer by text, and can take a little while to do so. Not a big deal.

But If I send a message with more than one question, there is what feels like a 10% change they will answer all my questions and a 90% chance they will either answer one or none and I’ll just get an “ok”. And I am talking about 5 lines messages not 50 lines.

So I have to send my questions one at a time, wait sometimes minutes to hours for an answer, then send the next one.

Of course I can also call, but often can’t reach them. Or can reach the front desk that doesn’t have the answers. I understand people are busy but it turns something that should be one message into a cat and mouse game

I learned that in a business context, it was extremely important to adhere to one issue per email.

If I peppered someone with a series of questions or worse, bundled unrelated issues into one message, they would all probably be mishandled. I think it was a mismatch of expectations and/or how corporate workers use email apps.

So if I held every message to one topic, one question, things tended to work as expected.

By email this is true but you can’t do that as well by chat or texts. You only get one thread per contact.

The contractors who are best at doing high quality work are often not the best at written communication. People who enjoy reading and writing don't tend to go into that line of work in the first place. And they're probably juggling your questions with a dozen other urgent issues from employees, suppliers, and other customers. The frustration is understandable but we have to be realistic in our expectations.

> So I have to send my questions one at a time,

That's what i learned in a big company.

That was the low-key surprise for me in the Epstein files: so many rich, powerful people wrote at an early grade-school level even in professional contexts. I know that’s not a universal sample but it made me wonder how many unsung admin assistants, grad students, etc. cleaned up everything they wrote for a broader context.

Informal devience is a social signifier "I want you to know I don't have to do that shit"

"... And you can't stop me, 'cuz I'm better than you."

Yeah, it makes sense as a display of clout, the normal rules not binding them. I would have thought there was more sense of pride but that’s very middle class of me, I suppose.

I worked for some very wealthy and powerful.

Some were low IQ but had power and money. Some were busy. Some did not want to put any additional effort because the relationship permitted them to be informal, lazy, brief.

In person and with contracts they were extremely diligent with their words.

Yea, it's a glimpse into a totally different world!

When I get ready to send an E-mail to a SVP or other VIP at work, I agonize over the wording, get others' feedback on it, write a draft, get it reviewed, write another one, make sure all my facts are straight, make sure there's a TLDR up front, make sure it's formal enough but not stuffy, then clench my butt and hit send...

Then you look at the Epstein files, and these E-mails are going to CEOs and heads of state! And they're like:

    "yo, wasssup retards!! we doin some kiddy diddling FRIDAY. who in???????? peace out bitch4es"

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