First, my gripe was with the numerological - i.e. superstitious - underpinnings of these kinds of shenanigans, which I think you’ll find is taken more seriously in China, and thus your characterization of “people having a little fun” is somewhat misleading. People actually believe in this stuff having actual meaning, you know? They don’t (all) think it’s just “for fun”. Second, notice my wording: “another little sliver” should have made it clear that I don’t think this contributes more than a small incremental amount to my final conclusion, hence I obviously do not think the “whole species should die for it (this).”
In fact, I don’t think the whole species should die for anything. You make it sound like I’m advocating for an genocidal extermination campaign or something, as opposed to saying we’re often acting in stupid and counter-productive ways that decreases our collective ability to survive, which is what I actually meant. I’m talking about a passive stochastic effect of collective behavior, and not at all limited to this specific instance of it either. It shouldn’t be controversial to say the acting foolishly increases the odds of a foolish outcome.
While I can see how you could get the impression you did, it is the absolutely most uncharitable interpretation of my words. Could you maybe chill out a little bit?
What other interpretation is there?
First, my gripe was with the numerological - i.e. superstitious - underpinnings of these kinds of shenanigans, which I think you’ll find is taken more seriously in China, and thus your characterization of “people having a little fun” is somewhat misleading. People actually believe in this stuff having actual meaning, you know? They don’t (all) think it’s just “for fun”. Second, notice my wording: “another little sliver” should have made it clear that I don’t think this contributes more than a small incremental amount to my final conclusion, hence I obviously do not think the “whole species should die for it (this).”
In fact, I don’t think the whole species should die for anything. You make it sound like I’m advocating for an genocidal extermination campaign or something, as opposed to saying we’re often acting in stupid and counter-productive ways that decreases our collective ability to survive, which is what I actually meant. I’m talking about a passive stochastic effect of collective behavior, and not at all limited to this specific instance of it either. It shouldn’t be controversial to say the acting foolishly increases the odds of a foolish outcome.
While I can see how you could get the impression you did, it is the absolutely most uncharitable interpretation of my words. Could you maybe chill out a little bit?