Logical debate has one advantage over narrative, rhetoric, and violence: it’s an asymmetric weapon. That is, it’s a weapon which is stronger in the hands of the good guys than in the hands of the bad guys...
The whole point of logic is that, when done right, it can only prove things that are true.
Violence is a symmetric weapon; the bad guys’ punches hit just as hard as the good guys’ do...
Violence itself… if anything, [decreases asymmetry] by giving an advantage to whoever is more ruthless and power-hungry.
Unspoken? There’s an SSC post explicitly about this.