First off I want to say that I agree with most of what you say, especially in your post below concerning tptacek's unfortunate single-word comment
sans explication. It seems that current discourse has forgotten, or even possibly dismisses, the classic fallacies of argumentation. The result is discourse that devolves to simple labeling followed by social dismissal. In such a situation argumentation ceases to be useful and etiquette vanishes. Without etiquette there cannot be mutual respect, and learning and communication cease. But that was the entire purpose of argumentation!
But that said, I have another question that I hope you will indulge. When you said that:
>"...people like me, who do learn things quite a bit. ..."I had to nod: you obviously know and learn a great deal in any period of time. But I must ask: do you ever forget? In a way you remind me of Jorge Luis Borges' character Funes in the short story "Funes the Memorious". But of course you are not as limited as Funes (e.g., he is incapable of abstract thought). Also, to me, you seem to be studying so many different areas. What would happen if you focused on one, two or even a handful of projects? In any case, it seems that you are intellectually indefatigable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious