Of course there is. For starters, most of the good arguments are much more difficult to concisely explain, or invite more arguments from flawed intuitions. Remember, we’re not trying to feel smug in our rational superiority here; we’re trying to save the world.
It isn’t the sort of bad argument that gets refuted. The best someone can do is point out that there’s no guarantee that MNT is possible. In which case, the response is ‘Are you prepared to bet the human species on that? Besides, it doesn’t actually matter, because [insert more sophisticated argument about optimization power here].’ It doesn’t hurt you, and with the overwhelming majority of semi-literate audiences, it helps.
Of course there is. For starters, most of the good arguments are much more difficult to concisely explain, or invite more arguments from flawed intuitions. Remember, we’re not trying to feel smug in our rational superiority here; we’re trying to save the world.
if your bad argument gets refuted, you lose whatever credibility you may have had.
It isn’t the sort of bad argument that gets refuted. The best someone can do is point out that there’s no guarantee that MNT is possible. In which case, the response is ‘Are you prepared to bet the human species on that? Besides, it doesn’t actually matter, because [insert more sophisticated argument about optimization power here].’ It doesn’t hurt you, and with the overwhelming majority of semi-literate audiences, it helps.