I think we're interested in this because frank feedback is an age-old aspect of 'geek culture', but it's obviously not that important; I'm sure neither of us is too invested in his point of view. Continuing the thread:

I agree with you about people using Steve Jobs-esque "emotional towel-snaps", and how reactions to them may thus be emotional and not rational. Check.

I'm saying, though, that if you clearly (and quickly! within minutes or seconds!) communicate 'you came here for my view, and it's that you're wrong. don't do that', people will read that as emotional, maybe as 'mean', regardless of whether there's any explicit emotional content there. No one likes to hear that answer, so their distaste at getting an answer they don't like makes them view it as an attack.

But I don't see that anything in pg's cited words demands a translation to "you are effing stupid!" It's reasonable for an adult who is basically paying equity to get actionable advice from a trusted investor not to interpret said advice as a personal attack.

To illustrate my point: your 'Spock' answer assumes a much friendlier reality than pg may have seen for them.

What if 'Spock' is convinced they were having a hard time buckling down, that if they changed focus that late in the game, they'd have died?

Then he would have essentially paraphrased pg's response: 'I am as sure as I can be that that is, qualitatively, a terrible course of action. You've nearly died already [moths for bad ideas], and I'm sure you will be dead if you do this. My time's up, so let me know what you decide next week.'