Look I'm all for this *but it doesn't work against propaganda*
@slatestarcodex you might want steelmanning, charity, good faith, but we don't live in that world anymore than we live in a world where material needs are met and discrimination is gone.http://slatestarcodex.com/2018/05/08/varieties-of-argumentative-experience/ …
2) I understand you're probably gesturing at a broader point, which is that good discourse isn't useful at all until we get that world. I disagree, and I've written a little about why at http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/02/23/in-favor-of-niceness-community-and-civilization/ … andhttp://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/24/guided-by-the-beauty-of-our-weapons/ …
-
-
3) The short version is that I think this works the same as every other virtue. Some people say there's no point in being kind, given that we live in an unkind world where rulebreakers can always beat people who play fair.
-
4) But there's also the opportunity for kind people to build communities with other kind people that don't have the same dog-eat-dog norms as eg high finance. I've lived in some of those communities and I'm grateful those people didn't wait for Utopia before trying to help.
- 10 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
I'm with you on this, it's both/and. Just have seen too often the attitude that we can discourse our way to the better material world. Policy wonks, rationalists, EAers occasionally espouse this view or act as if it's true.
-
I agree with you on this and have warned against this myself - seehttp://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/24/conflict-vs-mistake/ …
- 1 more reply
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.