Open Thread, August 2010

NancyLebovitz

This thread is for the discussion of Less Wrong topics that have not appeared in recent posts. If a discussion gets unwieldy, celebrate by turning it into a top-level post.

An ex-English Professor and ex-Cop, George Thompson, who now teaches a method he calls "Verbal Judo". Very reminiscent of Eliezer's Bayesian Dojo, this is a primer on rationalist communications techniques, focusing on defensive & redirection tactics. http://fora.tv/2009/04/10/Verbal_Judo_Diffusing_Conflict_Through_Conversation

I wrote up some notes on this, because there's no transcript and it's good information. Let's see if I can get the comment syntax to cooperate here.

How to win in conversations, in general.

Never get angry. Stay calm, and use communication tactically to achieve your goals. Don't communicate naturally; communicate tactically. If you get upset, you are weakened.

How to deflect.

To get past an unproductive and possibly angry conversation, you need to deflect the unproductive bluster and get down to the heart of things: goals, and how to achieve them. Use a senten... (read more)

5JenniferRM16y

Thanks. That was a compact and helpful 90 minutes. The first 30 minutes were OK, but the 2nd 30 were better, and the 3rd was the best. Towards the end I got the impression that he was explaining lessons that were the kind of thing people spend 5 years learning the hard way and that lots of people never learn for various reasons.

7

Open Thread, August 2010

7

7

7

Open Thread, August 2010

7

7