Intellectual hipsters and meta-contrarians
The underlying assumption of this article every step of the way is that one's underlying motivation for argument, debate, or discussion is <i>to signal social standing</i><p>I would argue instead that the most intelligent people find it innately enjoyable to talk about ideas. They are motivated by a desire to decrease-uncertainty and clarify-understanding.... they realize social standing is often an illusion and not overly worth worrying about.