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Normal_Anomaly comments on The "Stick Test" - useful tool or just pointless amusement? - Less Wrong
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Here's a test to determine whether it's useful: Does it ever get people to change their minds/concede the argument? If yes, it's good. If no, it's useless except for the fun it provides you.
What if you can't tell whether they've actually changed their minds or whether they're just willing to say whatever you want to get you to stop hitting them with a stick?
That is why people usually change their minds. Well, that and the carrot. The social implication of the compliance is usually the important part.
If they're able to come up with the proper reasoning processes to say what I want when I'm (virtually) hitting them with a stick... then they'll be able to use those same reasoning processes without a stick, and there will be no reason to continue using it on them.
And if sometimes?
I said, "does it ever". If it's convinced someone at least once, it's got some use.
How likely is it to change someone's mind when they're wrong, and how likely when they were right?