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Kawoomba comments on Many Weak Arguments vs. One Relatively Strong Argument - Less Wrong
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Comments (86)
Something has gone severely wrong with the 'steelman' concept if it is now being used offensively, to force social obligations onto others. This 'meta-remark' amounts to a demand that if JonahSinick says something stupid then it is up to others to search related concept space to find the nearest possible good argument for a better conclusion and act as if Jonah had said that instead of what he actually said. That is an entirely unreasonable expectation of his audience and expecting all readers to come up with what amounts to superior content than the post author whenever they make a reply is just ridiculously computationally inefficient.
It does make for higher quality discussions, especially when posters who command a larger audience are involved. Let's also assume that Jonah knows his shizzle, and that if he wrote something which seems stupid at first glance, he may have merely used an unfortunate phraseology. Where's the fun in shooting down the obvious targets, most readers can do so themselves. Rather skip to the subtle disagreements deep down, where true domina... where more refined and non-obvious counters may be revealed for the readers' benefit.
As one of those readers I would prefer not to have to. I appreciate the effort others put into keeping the garden well tended and saving me the trouble of reading low quality material myself.
Eliezer's reply is the kind of reply that I want to see more of. I strongly oppose shaming 'requests' used to discourage such replies.