Scott Alexander

His character was a ridiculous scammer who succeeded at near-impossible endeavours, like convincing people he was a Nostradamus-style mystical prophet, because the logic of the strip demanded it.

Later, Adams foregrounded the CEO characters more, maybe to create a purer sociopath, letting the boss go closer to clueless.

This is making me somewhat regret accusing Adams of wanting to be the pointy head boss.

It would have been fairer, and less of an accusation nor surprise, to accuse him of wanting to be Dogbutt.

But again, Dogbutt doesn't represent a real thing you could be, which might have been why the PHB made a better metaphor.

Contra, my claim, the cover of Win Bigly shows a mash-up of Dogbit and Chomp.

Fine, Dogbit is a thing one person can be.

You can read my full review of the Gervais principle here, link in post.

Sinceolator writes, quote, Scott Alexander, former Tribune of Nerds, now says that the Sneer Club was right about everything all along?

I didn't expect that, let me tell you, end quote.

Scott writes, To spell it out more explicitly...

all nerds must eventually realize they're not going to immediately dominate everything by intellect alone.

This isn't because intellect isn't great, it's because 1.

It's only one of many skills, and 2.

You probably aren't even the person with the most intellect.

Again, every mildly talented person has to face this realization, whether it's a nerd realizing he won't be the next Einstein, or a jock realizing he won't be the next LeBron.

If someone deals with this using denial, one of Freud's maladaptive defences, you get the nerd who says no, I really am the next Einstein, that is a crackpot, aka the sort of person who gets featured on Sneer Club.

If they deal with it using reaction formation, another of Freud's maladaptive defences, you get the self-hating nerd, aka the sort of person who joins Sneer Club.

Footnote.

Or maybe this would be projection, or both.