I wouldn’t say it is either but it is true that “discussing things to find out the truth” is actively advocated as a norm over “arguing to win”. That makes a big difference. Enough that I only take breaks from lesswrong in disgust every couple of years whereas on, say, the MENSA discussion boards I have frequented my tolerance wears thin far more quickly. With ‘debating as sparring’ as the human default having active pressure against that tendency at least helps reduce the phenomenon to more tolerable levels without eliminating it.
On Less Wrong, people mostly seem to prefer “discussing things to find out the truth” instead of “arguing to win.”
I’m not sure that’s actually true.
The fact that so many LWers disengaged from Epiphany that she thinks she has never lost an argument strongly suggest that it is true (ETA: at least in some contexts), and also that the norm has a downside of making some newcomers highly overconfident. (I can’t resist pointing out that a feature suggestion of mine probably would have helped here.)
Go on? It seems to be the most approved of/most encouraged way to discuss things, and there seems to be a lot less arguing to win than on other forums.
I’m not sure that’s actually true.
I wouldn’t say it is either but it is true that “discussing things to find out the truth” is actively advocated as a norm over “arguing to win”. That makes a big difference. Enough that I only take breaks from lesswrong in disgust every couple of years whereas on, say, the MENSA discussion boards I have frequented my tolerance wears thin far more quickly. With ‘debating as sparring’ as the human default having active pressure against that tendency at least helps reduce the phenomenon to more tolerable levels without eliminating it.
The fact that so many LWers disengaged from Epiphany that she thinks she has never lost an argument strongly suggest that it is true (ETA: at least in some contexts), and also that the norm has a downside of making some newcomers highly overconfident. (I can’t resist pointing out that a feature suggestion of mine probably would have helped here.)
Go on? It seems to be the most approved of/most encouraged way to discuss things, and there seems to be a lot less arguing to win than on other forums.