Thank you Adam, for responding.

Your response highlights several pitfalls when writing and/or reading comments written by “some random person on the internet,” rather than talking in person with someone you know.

1. Lacking all the non-verbal cues of in-person conversation, it’s easy to miss something important (something to consider both when writing or reading on the Internet). For example, in person you might see the person speaking is smiling and know they’re mostly having fun, or you might see them scowling and know they’re upset and super-serious.
2. Since you don’t know (in general, and here specifically) the person you’re writing to, you’re more likely to be making baseless assumptions about their character and motivations than if you did know them.
3. As a result of the above two points, it’s really important to try and limit your responses to the content of what was said, and avoid the temptation to try and deduce from it what the writer is like as a person and what character flaws he may suffer.

If you reread my original comment, you’ll see that (1) I both start and end my comment stating my agreement with the main point of the OP’s post, and (2) I explicitly acknowledge that I was having fun with math.

I take responsibility, as the writer of my comment, that my having tongue in cheek throughout the mathematical “analysis” was not clear enough for at least one “random person on the internet,” and thus likely to many others.

However, my intent in that comment, aside from having that mathematical fun, was to point out that as wonderful as math is, it can easily seduce us away from what’s real and practical, into the at-best-theoretically possible but completely unrealistic.

We don’t always have to only respond to the main point of what was originally said. Sometimes the way it was said, or something that was said alongside that main point sparks something else that’s of value.

So again, Adam, thank you for engaging in this conversation. I know I may not have convinced you of anything, but I hope I at least raised something you’ll find worthy of consideration.