PhilGoetz comments on David Deutsch on How To Think About The Future - Less Wrong
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Comments (197)
-5 points seems harsh for a statement that is technically correct.
I disagree. It is a good example where it is obvious or close to obvious what was intended. The remark simply damaged the signal to noise ratio while avoiding grappling with the point.
True - but I don't think it would ordinarily have been down-voted that hard, for that sin.
It is possible that some general annoyance with the user also resulted in the total.
Yes, but it's the worst sort of manifestation of this sort of behavior; if someone will attempt to generate conflict by nitpicking when they could so easily have interpreted the argument themselves in such a way as to render it unnecessary, can they be trusted to take arguments as seriously as they deserve to be?
I would prefer not to see any more comments by curi in conversations by Popper. The quality of discussion makes continued exposure unpleasant. This makes a decision to downvote all such comments appropriate.
Yes indeed. But also -- and maybe this is only a Popperian thing you guys think is wrong? -- I find that correcting statements, instead of just saying them wrong and leaving it at that, often leads to better understanding. Sometimes you find it's not as easy to correct as you assumed, and maybe change your conclusion a bit.
I think it's easy to make mistakes without realizing it -- happens all the time -- and that not making blatant mistakes -- or at least caring about them and correcting them when you do, rather than deeming it unimportant -- is a good start for dealing with the harder ones.
No. You are missing the point. The easy correction would be for you to say "Well, the chess claim might not be true. But your point still goes through if I used Go and one of the world's best Go players or some chess variant like Andernach chess or cylindrical chess or Capablanca chess." And then respond to the argument in that form.
It isn't helpful to pick out a small problem with an argument someone makes and then ignore the rest of the argument until they've responded to doing so. It might feel fun, and it might be rhetorically impressive in some circumstances, but it doesn't really help resolving disagreement or improving understanding of what people are trying to communicate.
This has nothing to do with Popper (I hope, not having read much Popper myself), and everything to do with obnoxious nitpicking in bad faith.