alt Hacker News>Terence Tao's quote about AI's math proofs is relatable outside of pure math: "the writing very often dwells at length on trivialities while passing briefly through — or even actively obscuring — the most interesting and novel portions of the argument."
I noticed a long time ago, that the more people focus on trivialities like typos when arguing against someone online, the more compelling the original argument is. Basically, bikeshedding.
The most compelling evidence of the compelling nature of the original argument is when the most-upvoted reply is a joke or a meme. That's when you really know that those responding have nothing else to say. It's a white flag being run up, or the dog turning over and exposing its belly.
I noticed another thing a long time ago.
Some academic cultures have a tradition of formal debates. They are based on the premise that an educated person should be able to argue convincingly for or against any idea, regardless of whether they believe in it. A natural corollary is that you should not let convincing arguments convince you, as the merits of the argument have little to do with the merits of the idea itself.
LLMs have made the situation worse. People's ability to generate convincing arguments now greatly exceeds their ability to evaluate the value of ideas.