Ad hominem attacks do constitute some Bayesian evidence. However, human beings tend to dramatically and unconsciously overweight them (because our powers of reasoning are optimized for navigating social battles rather than seeking abstract truths), so the proper rationalist norm among humans should be to eschew them.
Ad hominem attacks do constitute some Bayesian evidence. However, human beings tend to dramatically and unconsciously overweight them (because our powers of reasoning are optimized for navigating social battles rather than seeking abstract truths), so the proper rationalist norm among humans should be to eschew them.
Indeed; this can probably be a stronger claim: Even when attempting to discount evidence like ad hominem, we will overweight them.