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Incorrect comments on [link] I Was Wrong, and So Are You - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (96)
I hope you are not trying to poison the well.
I'm afraid I'm really going to have to ask you to explain what you mean by this. I find that there are too many potential reasons for making this statement, and of those I find to be remotely likely, I understand how they could be arrived at not at all.
You are causing us to think of him as a "progressive". This encourages readers to become mind-killed with respect to him.
I see.
You know, given what I've seen happening to the specific nature of the comment I make which get more than -5 score (For comparison I'm currently at about 50% of my peak 'karma' and am currently at ~-40 for my 30-day-interval) -- I can't really gainsay you on the fact that your concern is legitimate.
That being said; the mere fact that I have a poltiical disagreement with someone is, in general, not sufficient grounds for me to cease evaluating his claims on their own merit. In fact; I find it more conducive to have our biases exposed from the outset, and that is why I identified myself as a libertarian from my first post in the thread; to help allow the reader to identify and if necessary correct for any political biases I may have.
How would you know that? People usually don't think of themselves as biased, and are bad at evaluating how biased they are even if they acknowledge some bias.
I have been known to go to absurd lengths to counteract the possibility of becoming biased in a given situation. Am I perfect? Of course not. But practicing excellence with compartmentalization, and with counterfactualization, as well as with maintaining comfort in the face of constant doubt, are all good tools for allowing yourself to believe you are correct while expecting yourself to be biased. (This is intentionally inducing cognitive dissonance and then adapting to the presence of said dissonance.)
Very much so. And I would not even begin to pretend that I am "perfect" in this area. But experience and the observations of others have shown me that I am the least likely person I know -- or have encountered -- to allow political, emotional, or biological (as in sexual, dietary, etc..) investment to interfere with my ability to take the outside view. Why this is so, I am not remotely certain.
I've also built up, over time, a laundry list of habitual behaviors designed to mitigate biases regardless of whether I am aware of them -- such as my habit of attempting to parse arguments down as far as possible, of demanding definitions for 'fuzzy' topics, of being able to persuasively reformulate the arguments of others in language consistent with their own positions (to demonstrate comprehension of their position as they understand it.)