Today's post, Hug the Query was originally published on 14 December 2007. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):

 

The more directly your arguments bear on a question, without intermediate inferences, the more powerful the evidence. We should try to observe evidence that is as near to the original question as possible, so that it screens off as many other arguments as possible.


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[-]Shmi20

Another good quote from it:

Just as it is superior to argue physics than credentials, it is also superior to argue physics than rationality.

And by "physics" he means observable evidence (the Wrights' plane flies), not some equations.