Blueberry comments on Open Thread: July 2010, Part 2 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Alicorn 09 July 2010 06:54AM

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Comment author: Blueberry 03 August 2010 10:26:32AM 1 point [-]

I'm a little confused at this: I understand not wanting to manipulate people, but why does that mean you can't (openly and honestly) try to persuade or convince someone? That doesn't seem necessarily manipulative.

Comment author: cousin_it 03 August 2010 06:35:41PM *  8 points [-]

The problem is, I was/am a very manipulative person by nature, so I really need the conscious overcorrection. Whenever I detect within myself a desire to change someone's opinion, I know how much it weakens my defense against making bad arguments. It's like writing emails late at night: in the process of doing it, I like the resulting text just fine, but I know from experience on a different level that I'm going to be ashamed when I reread it in the morning.