SilasBarta comments on Open Thread June 2010, Part 3 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Kevin 14 June 2010 06:14AM

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Comment author: SilasBarta 17 June 2010 03:48:02PM *  1 point [-]

Amanda Knox update: Someone claims he knows the real killer, and is being taken seriously enough to give Knox and Sollecito a chance of being released. Of course, he's probably lying, since Guede most likely is the killer, and it's not who this new guy claims. But what can you do against the irrational?

I found this on a Slashdot discussion as a result of -- forgive me -- practicing the dark arts. (Pretty depressing I got upmodded twice on net.)

Comment author: gwern 21 June 2010 02:01:02AM *  3 points [-]

"I know [he was involved] because my brother confessed to me that he had killed Meredith and he asked me to hide a blood-stained knife and set of keys," he said, according to an attachment to Knox's appeal documents.

"I had everything under a little wall behind my house," he said. "I am happy to stand up in court and confirm all this and wrote to the court several times to tell them but was never questioned."

Should be easy to test his claims...

We "can't simply investigate in the course of a trial every claim that comes up," Mignini told CNN.

I sometimes wonder, is the Italian judicial system really that lousy or is there some sort of linguistic or cultural barrier there.

Comment author: simplicio 18 June 2010 10:12:31PM 3 points [-]

You were arguing against your real opinion as a 5th columner? May I ask why?

(Well done, by the way, in a technical sense. Just the right amount of character assassination: "Sollecito and Knox were known to be practitioners of dangerous sex acts.")

Just don't kill the younglings, Anakin!

Comment author: SilasBarta 18 June 2010 10:49:41PM 3 points [-]

I thought it would get modded down and then provoke someone as well-informed as komponisto to thoroughly refute it, and make people realize how stupid those arguments were.

Damn ... now that's starting to sound like a fake justification!

Eh, I guess I just like trolling too :-/

Comment author: simplicio 18 June 2010 11:13:37PM 2 points [-]

...and make people realize how stupid those arguments were.

Internet, Silas. Silas, Internet. ;)

I think you will find an ample number of inspiringly bad arguments out there, without adding to their number. I believe this is called cutting one's nose to spite one's face.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 18 June 2010 10:16:35PM 2 points [-]

Slashdot threads have a bad enough signal to noise ratio as is. Please don't do that sort of thing.

Comment author: SilasBarta 19 June 2010 12:07:56AM 0 points [-]

Should I stop doing this too? Or at least wait until people start challenging the term "top theologian"?

Comment author: JoshuaZ 19 June 2010 12:11:24AM *  1 point [-]

Yes, as a regular reader of Slashdot, I'd prefer if you didn't do that. I don't see what you are accomplishing from these remarks. It really does come across as simple trolling.

Comment author: SilasBarta 19 June 2010 12:17:13AM *  0 points [-]

You know what, bro? I'm not even going to ask your opinion about this.

Notable:

Mere Christianity has been superceded by much better, more solid theology.)

Comment author: JoshuaZ 19 June 2010 12:29:19AM *  1 point [-]

That's at least humorous although I have to inquire if the other AC who replies to you about also being a Christian on Slashdot is also you.

Edit: Also, to be clear: My general response whenever these sorts of dark arts come up is very simple: If one needs to do this to get people convinced of you position that's a cause to worry if one's position is actually correct.

Comment author: SilasBarta 19 June 2010 12:33:33AM 0 points [-]

Um, I don't believe the position I linked if that's what you're worried about...

Comment author: JoshuaZ 19 June 2010 12:36:53AM 1 point [-]

No, I mean you are deliberately portraying an alternate position as stupid apparently hoping that people will think that reversed intelligence is stupidity. That's a serious dark art. So if one is going to do that sort of thing one should worry that maybe one's position is really not correct.

Comment author: SilasBarta 19 June 2010 12:47:33AM *  1 point [-]

Hm, good point. I guess I am fake justifying. I'll admit, I like to troll, and I'm kinda let down that no one has ever objected to the term "top theologian", saying, "wait, what exactly do you have to do to count as a top theologian? What predictions, exactly?"

I actually participate as a "friendly troll" on a private board on gamefaqs.com. "Friendly troll" in that most everyone there knows I'm a troll and just makes fun of the people who make serious replies to my topics; and I casually chat with people there about what troll topics I should make. The easiest one is, "Isn't evolution still basically just a theory at this point?"

In high school (late 90s), I would troll chatrooms and print transcripts to share with my friends the next day. One of them was a real "internet paladin" type and said, "people like you should be banned from the internet". My crowning "achievement" was to say a bunch of offensive stuff in a gameroom on a card game site, which got a moderator called in; but by that point, everyone was yelling really offensive stuff at me, and got themselves banned. I was left alone because I made (mocking) apologies just in time, and the moderator couldn't scroll up enough to see most of my earlier comments.

I've mostly toned it down and gotten away from it but I still do it here and there. Well, not here, but you get the point.

Comment author: simplicio 19 June 2010 01:48:25AM 5 points [-]

I'll admit, I like to troll...

It can be fun, I will guiltily admit, but not nearly as much fun as trying to present what you actually believe in a clever enough way that somebody goes... click. (In which endeavour, by all means be sarcastic and use pathos).

You have to do some sort of calculus on what the upshot of this trolling is though... if the upshot is increased irrationality, well, there isn't much functional difference between you and your alter ego.

And all the Anonymous_Coward arguments I've seen that you listed are BETTER arguments (sad as that is) than most sincere ones in support of similar conclusions. The Good Soldier Ċ vejk isn't actually supposed to be a good soldier. :P

Comment author: kodos96 17 June 2010 09:56:18PM *  1 point [-]

FYI, this was discussed previously here