A lot of the LW sense of “dark arts” could be found in the mainstream expression “dirty tricks”, which is slightly more general but not much: “cognitive dirty tricks” would be pretty clear. A significant part of both terms’ meaning is that using the techniques so named is unethical or unfair on account of being manipulative of others.
(OTOH, I do seem to recall someone on LW or OB who had assumed that “shut up and multiply” was an exhortation to have lots of children, and went WTF.)
I don’t recall this incident, but if a newcomer came across an evolutionary psychology discussion and saw that expression, that would be the obvious interpretation!
A lot of the LW sense of “dark arts” could be found in the mainstream expression “dirty tricks”, which is slightly more general but not much: “cognitive dirty tricks” would be pretty clear. A significant part of both terms’ meaning is that using the techniques so named is unethical or unfair on account of being manipulative of others.
I don’t recall this incident, but if a newcomer came across an evolutionary psychology discussion and saw that expression, that would be the obvious interpretation!