Charm is the ability to insult people without offending them; nerdiness the reverse: - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Beware the confusion between correctness and intelligibility. Part of conventional wisdom favors things that can be explained rather instantly and “in a nutshell” — in many circles it is considered law. Having attended a French elementary school, a lycée primaire, I was trained to rehash Boileau’s adage: Ce qui se conçoit bien s’énonce clairement Et les mots pour le dire viennent aisément What is easy to conceive is clear to express / Words to say it would come effortlessly.

You do not want to win an argument. You want to win.

The idea of skin in the game is to remove the mimicry by filtering via judgment by reality. Otherwise you end up with actors & parrots.