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by mdxn 4345 days ago
I can see how it can be read that way, though you should also to look at this from his perspective (or at least my guess as to a possible perspective).

The internet (and the field) is flooded with nonsense papers that don't respect the hard work of others. A lot of them really do come from these "common novice mistakes". The authors are taking very superficial views of complexity theory and physics against the advice of researchers in those fields. This particular one hasn't, but a lot of them have incredibly bad and egotistical attitudes. I think researchers see this as incredibly insulting, ignorant, and a severe lack of humility. People aren't showing enough respect and care to this field.

This wouldn't be such a problem if it didn't happen more often than not. On top of that, these poor findings end up swarming around the media and dilute the field. Look, Aaronson is a well known guy who has spent a lot of time trying to point out and explain these mistakes. Though people, including pseudo-scientists, completely ignore him. They even start fights with him. He and others get spammed with this stuff weekly if not daily. For him, I bet it's simply too much to ignore.