
The Failure Mode of Clever (2010) - Gormisdomai
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/16/the-failure-state-of-clever/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
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shawn
Most of the comments seem to divide into two categories: those who have
experienced this failure mode, and those attacking the author.

As someone who has learned not to do this, here is what the author is saying.
You subconsciously care about yourself more than the person you're talking to.
When you want something from them, that's a bad idea.

Those two sentences, if internalized, will cure you of trying to be clever.
There's no room for clever when you have to be effective. At least, not
manufactured clever.

~~~
sbjs
You can still care about yourself more than the person but at the same time
want something from them badly enough that you'll reverse this when you
interact with them. It's called sucking up.

~~~
sbjs
To clarify, I don't recommend it. Just giving food for thought.

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yahnusername
I like to think about communication in four tiers from best to worst

    
    
      In-person: all context clues available
      Video: screen acts as barrier; latency inhibits rapport
      Voice: all visual information missing
      Text: all visual and tonal information missing
    

The article's advice rings more and more true the further down this list you
go

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Havoc
Personally I've noticed I tend towards passive aggressive as "failure mode".
Which plays out as "being difficult".

e.g. Authority figure tells me something is X and I think they're wrong. Say
as much, but it doesn't stick. End result is I go with X but with lots of
resistance. (Not helpful for career)

I'd also venture that what the author describes - online interactions are a
rather unique ballgame. IRL I know when I'm the smartest person in the room.
Online there is always a real chance that you're arguing against a triple PhD
that can school you till the end of time without breaking a sweat, but was
just being modest & polite.

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rundigen12
There once was a documentary about a small group of British intellectuals (who
also happened to be musical virtuosos) in which one of them asserted that the
decision boundary between clever and stupid can have arbitrarily small width.

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JasonFruit
Without more context, this feels like vaguebooking: it seems like it's aimed
at a particular person or type of person, but it leaves me guessing at the
target. Maybe that means it's me. I wish there were some examples so I knew
what kind of clever the author had in mind.

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actuallyalys
Examples would help, but there's a clue in what he suggests as an alternative:
"be polite and to the point". I think any type of cleverness that's indirect
or could be perceived as impolite is the kind of cleverness he's talking
about.

~~~
JasonFruit
That's a very helpful perspective.

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TipVFL
While I agree that the failure mode of being clever can be asshole, I really
don't think that's the default failure mode most of the time. I wish he had
provided some examples so I could have a clearer grasp on exactly what he
means by clever and asshole.

I feel like the advice should be more like, "If you're going to be clever,
make sure it's the right tone for the audience, and that the failure mode of
your joke isn't asshole".

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TheRealPomax
So... do what the post from 2010 already says? Because it tells you to be
clever once you know your audience will appreciate your brand of clever.

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TipVFL
You're never going to know that for sure, the more important part is that if
you're going to try being clever make sure it can't be misinterpreted as you
being an asshole.

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andrepd
Maybe I'm not... clever enough, but I cannot understand what the hell this guy
is on about.

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m0llusk
This fails to differentiate between intention, action, and interpretation.
Wanting to stand out from the crowd, being clever, having a clever idea, and
being an asshole are all judgements. What is the intention? What actions might
address that intention? Privacy in communication is emphasized, but general
points like this apply to all communication. References might be missed, so be
careful with them especially the first time.

What seems especially odd is that this post is an apparently unintentional
example of the failure mode being discussed. Instead of directly talking about
the risk of misunderstanding and how to limit that using simplification a
bunch of colorful but ultimately distracting discourse keeps the focus on
judgements about character and intent and assembling the clever asshole
strawman.

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sbjs
This is especially important when dealing with potential clients. Can't risk
putting them off and losing that relationship! Wait til you get to know them,
go to the bar and have a few drinks first, see if they have the same humor as
you, and then let loose and joke around freely. It also helps to not have a
negative or dark sense of humor or personality in general. More people have
one than not, but they'll also be quicker to turn on you, so the long-term
risk is still too high.

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fireattack
This article itself kind of falls into that, isn't it? :p

~~~
jplasmeier
This comment itself kind of falls into that, isn't it? :p

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samirez
Recruiters would do well to read this. Have noticed an uptick in 'clever'
outreaches lately. While they don't necessarily cross over into 'asshole',
then definitely make me want to avoid a potentially cringey conversation.

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jcahill
semicolons are irony punctuation in prose.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=too+clever+by+half](https://www.google.com/search?q=too+clever+by+half)

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londons_explore
This article would be strengthened by a good set of examples.

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Animats
This mistake goes back to "Romeo and Juliet", at least.

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sbjs
(2010)

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tlb
Edited title, thanks.

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ouid
The author of this should find some way of dealing with his social anxiety.

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jonhendry18
I would guess it's about some aspiring author type who tried to impress Scalzi
(a published author) in email and failed badly.

It probably wasn't bad enough for Scalzi to want to embarrass the emailer by
identifying them by name.

This may not be the first time Scalzi received an email like this from
someone, leading to the post as a kind of "public service message".

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hadrien01
For some reason this page displayed only its green background for a few
seconds. Did anyone else have this problem?

Edit: just checked, those assholes added an 8-second css animation that
doesn't display the page for people that disable javascript...

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bunderbunder
You'll get a much nicer page that renders just fine w/o javascript if you chop
"/amp/?__twitter_impression=true" off the end of the URL:

[https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/16/the-failure-state-
of-...](https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/16/the-failure-state-of-clever/)

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genericid
The original URL worked fine for me without Javascript.

