I remember being in a staff meeting at the aerospace firm that I am now retired from. I made a comment along the lines of, "Steve is a really good programmer (speaking of an engineer, not a software guy)" . One of the younger engineers piped up: "Well, we're all really good programmers."
Just to say that one way that a lack of humility expresses itself is with the notion that we are all of us equally gifted -- and it just ain't so. In the realm of technology, people like Musk and Andreessen and (include your favorite left-leaning mogul here) really do know more than the rest of us, and what they have to say on many things is newsworthy.
As a conservative living in California I am, of course, not a big fan of Newsom, but I am impressed by how he has taken the "move fast and break things" page from Trump's playbook. Love him or hate him, Trump has rewritten the rules for politicians. In the new world order, elected officials who keep their heads down and move at a glacial pace will simply not get re-elected.
Anti-gun folks argue that since so many people die as a result of handguns, they should be banned. But despite the fact that in car/bicycle crashes the cyclist inevitably gets the worst of it, no one is seriously calling for the elimination of automobiles.
Cancellation is about a self-appointed minority taking malicious action against someone for an action or opinion for which the law itself does not specify a penalty. No one should be cancelled. And no one should be downvoted (or worse) on HN.
I like your explanation of why "agent" is entirely the wrong term to use. But "clanker"? It has such an ugly sound to it. What's wrong with plain old bot?
"That’s the main thing good tutors do differently. If motivation decreases, they switch to lighter content, or even transition into non-lesson conversation. If motivation increases, they ramp up the difficulty of the lesson."
I would say that's reasonable (but not optimal) if we're talking about an adult client who is footing the bill himself or herself. But in the case of, say, high school students, parents don't like that kind of laissez-faire ambiance.