[dang]

Please don't post unsubstantive comments here. Nitpicking the wording of an article's first sentence is practically a caricature of the Internet Dismissal.

[king_magic]

I also think bergie's comment is a fair critique. If the very first sentence of an article is that absurd/unfounded/hyperbolic/etc, it's certainly fair to call it out.

[dkural]

He is providing minimum viable evidence that article is not particularly well written. I found his comment helpful.

[dang]

A standard internet boast about not getting past sentence n, where the snark gets bigger as n gets smaller, is nothing worth posting here.

The article's author may not be a native English speaker. If so, the dismissal was not only unsubstantive but parochial. We have a lot of international content on HN and users need to read it charitably (and read other things charitably too).

[dkural]

Hmm, ok that's a good point.

[PunchTornado]

That is a very fair critique. I don't know how that sentence passed the peer review without someone spilling coffee on their keyboard.

[bognition]

This isn't a peer reviewed paper

[Svexark]

He's pointing out a sentence that wouldn't pass muster in a primary school book report. Yours is the only "unsubstantive comment" I see here.