Cyan comments on Contests vs. Real World Problems - Less Wrong

15 Post author: badger 25 March 2009 01:29AM

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Comment author: Cyan 25 March 2009 04:09:32PM *  3 points [-]

...we instinctively shy away from using this strategy... often we're using it in practice anyway.

Is this not contradictory?

Comment author: gwern 28 March 2009 02:31:34PM 1 point [-]

You understand the hypocrisy, then. We rely on this very general & valid strategy in all sorts of real-life real-money situations, but when it comes to discussions of complex important topics? All of sudden it is 100% verboten.

This, it seems to me, is exactly what a underused rationalist cheat would look like.

Comment author: ciphergoth 02 April 2009 09:37:00PM 3 points [-]

Can you give an example of something that this change would sanction?

Comment author: thomblake 02 April 2009 04:19:19PM 2 points [-]

This, it seems to me, is exactly what a underused rationalist cheat would look like.

I agree that it seems to match my impression of what the form should be. However, it's not just an arbitrary rule to not use ad hominem arguments. Ad hominem is a formal fallacy - non-fallacious ad hominems are really not all that unheard-of in academia.

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