buybuydandavis comments on Dark Side Epistemology - Less Wrong

38 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 17 October 2008 11:55PM

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Comment author: RichardKennaway 18 October 2008 08:13:31AM 12 points [-]

A few general schemas:

"True for", as in, "That may be true for you, but not for me. We each choose our own truths."

"I feel that X." Every sentence of this form is false, because X is an assertion about the world, not a feeling. Someone saying "I feel that X" in fact believes X, but calling it a feeling instead of a belief protects it from refutation. Try replying "No you don't", and watch the explosion. "How dare you try to tell me what I'm feeling!"

Write obscurely.

Never explicitly state your beliefs. Hint at them in terms that the faithful will pick up and applaud, but which give nothing for the enemy to attack. Attack the enemy by stating their beliefs in terms that the faithful will boo, while giving the enemy nothing to dispute.

Ignore the entire machinery of rationality. Treat all human interaction as nothing more than social grooming or status games in a tribe of apes.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 02 April 2013 06:41:36AM 2 points [-]

Never explicitly state your beliefs.

Argument by innuendo. Politicians love this. Imply, then deny. "I never said that."