> I feel like we'd be super advanced if we'd just stop arguing about petty shit.

If everyone always agreed, science and technology would stagnate. Disagreement drives advancement.

Please, explain how disagreement over petty shit drives advancement. By my understanding, petty shit is of no value, and thus unimportant to advancement of anything but resentment and dismissal, and indeed is an inhibitor of progress. (Irony acknowledged.)

The week to week grind in academia, disagreements included, is typically petty shit to people outside of a very niche subfield.

One man's petty garbage is another man's sacred ox?

your name is 'moistly', was that petty at the time - just curious because it's ironic.

It’s ironic? How so? ELI5 please.

Anyhoo, I chose “moistly” because his reaction to saying the word was hilarious, because it’s completely unlike other aliases here, and because it’s one of those words that everyone feels a little squeamish about, like “lugubrious”, “bulbous”, “phlegm”, “orifice”.