Comment on Well-done documentary on the singularity: 'Transcendent Man'

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:11:42 GMT

Overall, specific errors in reasoning should generally be highlighted instead of arguing that the other person is biased. One reason is because such an accusation is an ad hominem attack -- I think that such indirect methods of analyzing the rationality of an argument have an alarming potential to provoke mind-killing.

The more obvious and important reason is that citing a logical error/fallacy/bad interpretation of data is so much more reliable than trying to read emotional cues of whether someone is biased; this is especially true considering the lack of insight which we have into each other's mind.

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