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by kstrauser 765 days ago
I think it guides responses to it. If a teenager writes a guide that says O(n) algorithms are always faster than O(n^2), I'm likely to tell them that I see what their thinking is, but here are some counterexamples that make it more nuanced than that. If a friend with a PhD in compsci said that, I might tease them more... assertively.

In this conversation I see people discussing the requirements for being Turing complete. Because OP is a teen, everyone so far seems pretty nice about gently pointing out inaccuracies. I doubt they would be, or should be, as easy on me if I made similar misstatements.

And that's the value I see in "as a teenager..." here. It's not so much about their age as that they don't have decades of education and experience under their belts. Another person posting "as a professional dog groomer..." might get similar responses: hey, that's pretty neat coming from someone who hasn't been doing this for a living for many years!