Episode Details

Beware of when a post is so well-written that you can't put it down. Be wary of posts that are more visually attractive than average. Beware of posts that make you laugh out loud.

Why? Because all of this is orthogonal to whether the post's argument is actually true and runs counter to the mission of rationality.

The Company Man

Yesterday, I read Tomás B.'s The Company Man. I was captivated on my first read, as I'm sure many others were. Had I been interrupted before I could scroll into the comments, I would have walked away thinking little more than "what a great post".

But I did get to the comments. The first one was kyleherndon's:

I did not enjoy this. I did not feel like I got anything out of reading this. However, this got curated and >500 karma... The best theory I can scrounge together is that this is "relatable" in some way to people in SF, like it conveys a vibe they are feeling? ... I didn't feel like I learned anything as a result...

This forced me to ask myself: what did I actually learn from The Company Man? Science fiction, at its best [...]

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Outline:

(00:29) The Company Man

(01:54) True Affect

(04:37) But Stories Are Good for Life

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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First published:
April 15th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YCSQAMHHNvsNC3HKc/beware-of-well-written-posts

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.