> The ability to sort out opinions and anecdotes from factual claims and evidence is… well… something you’d expect from a proficient reader!
How does a proficient reader separate facts from opinions if good writing doesn't disambiguate facts and opinions? Do they just assume?
e.g.: Butter is about as healthy as vegetable oil. Arugula is healthier than lettuce.
I can cite a meta-analysis for one of the above statements. The other is just my opinion, and I have done no research into the topic. How would a proficient reader tell them apart if there's no calibrating for uncertainty?
Side note: I went through the original blog post again, and there are lots of examples of Dan Luu doing exactly what I'm writing about, to the point where I'm confused why the original commenter thinks he's not using a different tone based on uncertainty.
Examples:
"I once watched, from the inside, a company undergo this cultural shift"
"I've both worked at companies that have tried to contract this kind of thing out as well as talked with many people who've done that"
> How does a proficient reader separate facts from opinions if good writing doesn't disambiguate facts and opinions? Do they just assume?
Facts and opinions are not different qualities of the same claim, but different claims to begin with. “Butter is about 18% water, by weight” is a factual claim and “butter is about as healthy as vegetable oil” is probably opinion because the word “healthy” is, well, often vague and not something people agree on, at least in this context.
> Side note: I went through the original blog post again, and there are lots of examples of Dan Luu doing exactly what I'm writing about, to the point where I'm confused why the original commenter thinks he's not using a different tone based on uncertainty.
Yes, I get a sense that there may be some more cogent complaint that the original commenter has, a complaint which provoked the comment, but I can’t figure out what that complaint is from the comment.
Just that people who complain about tone often have something else to complain about, but tone is more obvious.
Nothing in Dan Luu’s writing is ever ambiguous. Quite the opposite.
He just writes in the same voice for both researched facts/studies and personal anecdotes. But it’s always very clear which is which, and an informed reader should (IMO) not have a problem differentiating.
The commenter you’re replying to is objecting to unnecessary couching and cloaking of opinion/anecdote. And I think there’s very, very little of that in Dan Luu’s writing — and it comes off as a “matter-of-fact tone.”
I disagree. it sometimes gives me that feeling as well even though I like the guy and his blog. i don't know if it's a cultural thing. i'm no native english storage
> The ability to sort out opinions and anecdotes from factual claims and evidence is… well… something you’d expect from a proficient reader!
How does a proficient reader separate facts from opinions if good writing doesn't disambiguate facts and opinions? Do they just assume?
e.g.: Butter is about as healthy as vegetable oil. Arugula is healthier than lettuce.
I can cite a meta-analysis for one of the above statements. The other is just my opinion, and I have done no research into the topic. How would a proficient reader tell them apart if there's no calibrating for uncertainty?
Side note: I went through the original blog post again, and there are lots of examples of Dan Luu doing exactly what I'm writing about, to the point where I'm confused why the original commenter thinks he's not using a different tone based on uncertainty.
Examples:
"I once watched, from the inside, a company undergo this cultural shift"
"I've both worked at companies that have tried to contract this kind of thing out as well as talked with many people who've done that"