Nick_Tarleton comments on Undiscriminating Skepticism - Less Wrong

97 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 March 2010 11:23PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (1329)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment deleted 15 March 2010 11:31:19AM [-]
Comment author: simplicio 15 March 2010 01:43:59PM 4 points [-]

And I'll add that asking whether people support the renewal of the nuclear deterrent was a good one for centre/left people here in the uk.

Now this I would not have thought of. Nuclear energy perhaps...

Do you think the nuclear deterrent should be renewed or should not, & why is it a litmus test?

Comment author: Nick_Tarleton 15 March 2010 05:29:00PM *  7 points [-]

Whether or not the nuclear deterrent should in fact be renewed, inability to see the point of (as opposed to mere considered disagreement with) "if you want peace, prepare for war" seems like valid proof of political derangement.

Comment author: simplicio 15 March 2010 05:38:29PM 12 points [-]

Oh, I see! You mean that a deranged liberal is likely to say "nuclear armament cannot possibly be a solution for anything in principle?" Yeah, that makes sense.

Come to think of it, the fear of anything nuclear, period, is probably a good predictor of irrationality on the left, as is a knee-jerk negative response to, i.a., GE crops.

Comment author: sketerpot 15 March 2010 11:55:54PM 5 points [-]

Come to think of it, the fear of anything nuclear, period, is probably a good predictor of irrationality on the left, as is a knee-jerk negative response to, i.a., GE crops.

Simple ignorance can confuse the issue; the real indicator is how they deal with argument (assuming you really know your stuff and can present a compelling argument).