Scott Alexander
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
The same goes for many other forms of transportation.
And the parent isn't allowed to just phone it in.
If a child is looping, Mazka, Mazka, Mazka, you can't just say, yeah, I guess, or, sure, okay, Mazka.
They'll know your heart isn't in it.
You have to drill down.
Cue the kid pointing to the road.
You mean, um, that car looks like mum's car?
Um, that ice cream truck is making music?
Oh, you mean a motorcycle?
And only then will the curse be broken.
I can't remember who said this, but I can't unsee it.
Toddlers, much more than adults, are still running off evolved instincts that expect the ancestral environment and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
Their programming is clear.
Their first and most important task is to learn the names and calls of every animal.
This applies to animals they see, doggy, woof woof, to animals they know only by reputation, lion, rawr, and to any sufficiently megafauna-like object in the vicinity, train, choo choo.