Some things I’ve noticed:
- I like most of what you write. I like your videos less often. This is exactly the reverse of fiction / entertainment media where I prefer videos to text.
- Regardless of format, text analysis is the CF topic I seem least interested in. I like other topics you write about more.
- Someone being a public intellectual doesn’t seem to raise my interest level. I think partly this is because I have associations between academia and public intellectuals and I don’t like academia. Partly it is because I agree with your general criticisms of public intellectuals like that they have no reliable paths forward and are social climbers + have the excuse that they’re “busy”. So: I’d guess the chances that Pinker would ever watch your video and respond productively are less than some random non-public intellectual who wrote the same text. Which leads to…
- I have noticed that I have a strong bias toward interactivity rather than effort. Stuff where there’s back and forth or at least a strong possibility of it (like with EA) are more interesting than stuff where I guess that’s unlikely, even if the stuff where interactivity is unlikely was higher effort.