We can say that all disagreements start with confusion. Then I claim that if the confusion is quickly resolved, or if one of the parties exits the conversation, then the thread is normal and healthy. And that in all other cases the thread is demonic. Not all confusion is created equal. I’m claiming that the depth of this initial confusion is the best predictor of demon threads. I can understand why status games would prevent someone from exiting, but people ignoring their deep confusions is not a good outcome, so we don’t really want them to exit, we want them to resolve it. I don’t really see how status games could deepen the confusion.
In addition people are bringing models of the other person’s confusion / motives in to the discussion
I’d call that “confusion about what the other party thinks”, and put it under the umbrella of general confusion. In fact that’s the first kind of confusion I think about, when I think of demonic threads, but object-level confusion is important too. Maybe we aren’t disagreeing?
We can say that all disagreements start with confusion. Then I claim that if the confusion is quickly resolved, or if one of the parties exits the conversation, then the thread is normal and healthy. And that in all other cases the thread is demonic. Not all confusion is created equal. I’m claiming that the depth of this initial confusion is the best predictor of demon threads. I can understand why status games would prevent someone from exiting, but people ignoring their deep confusions is not a good outcome, so we don’t really want them to exit, we want them to resolve it. I don’t really see how status games could deepen the confusion.
I’d call that “confusion about what the other party thinks”, and put it under the umbrella of general confusion. In fact that’s the first kind of confusion I think about, when I think of demonic threads, but object-level confusion is important too. Maybe we aren’t disagreeing?