cousin_it comments on "Open-Mindedness" - the video - Less Wrong
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Comments (36)
There is something poisonous about this presentation, that I can't quite verbalize. My impression is that it says the right things, but in a wrong way.
The format clearly has potential though.
ETA: My complaint is about the content presented with text, not its style, voice acting or the video sequence. Connotation, not denotation or presentation.
I just tried to read your mind from a distance, and this is what I got:
The video's central debating technique is latching on to a word ("open-minded") that presumably carries good connotations even for a superstitious viewer, and using this applause light to drag the viewer through to unwelcome conclusions. "If you think this concept corresponds to good, then you have no option but to think this and that are also good." The Internet abounds with examples of this persuasion style, e.g. in politics: "if you like democracy, you must also like X" whatever X is. We could call this tactic "value extortion". Can't imagine it successfully converting an emotional person - they would just tune out, instinctively feeling it's something akin to mind-rape, even if the concepts presented are totally valid.
I imagine a better approach would be closer to seduction than rape, much softer and less confrontational, defusing questions in the viewer's head at just the moment they're ready to ask them. Takes a lot of effort and empathy though, over and above logically valid reasoning.
There comes a time to hire a professional Sith Lord...