I don’t want to comment on the whole Leverage Controversy as I’m far away enough from the action that other people are probably better positioned to sensemake here.
On the other hand, I have been watching some of Geoff Anders’ streams does seem pretty good at theorising by virtue of being able to live-stream this. I expect this to be a lot harder than it looks, when I’m trying to figure out my position on an issue, I often find myself going over the same ground again and again and again, until eventually I figure out a way of putting what I want to express into words.
That said, I’ve occasionally debated with some high-level debaters and given almost any topic they’re able to pretty much effortlessly generate a case and how the debate is likely to play out. I guess it seems on par with this.
So I think his ability to livestream demonstrates a certain level of skill, but I almost view it as speed-chess vs. chess, in that there’s only so much you can tell about a person’s ability in normal chess from how good they are at speed chess.
I think I’ve improved my own ability to theorise by watching the streams, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I improved similarly from watching Eliezer, Anna or Duncan livestream their attempts to think through an issue. I also expect that there’s a similar chance I would have gained a significant proportion of the benefit just from watching someone with my abilities or even slightly worse on the basis of a) understanding the theorising process from the outside b) noticing where they frame things differently than I would have.
Trying to think about what is required to be a good debater:
general intelligence—to quickly understand the situation and lay out your response;
“talking” skills—large vocabulary, talking clearly, not being shy, body language and other status signals;
background knowledge—knowing the models, facts, frequently used arguments, etc.;
precomputed results—if you already spent a lot of time thinking about a topic, maybe even debating it.
These do not work the same way, for example clear talking and good body language generalize well; having lots of precomputed results in one area will not help you much in other areas (unless you use a lot of analogies to the area you are familiar with—if you do this the first time, you may impress people, but if you do this repeatedly, they will notice that you are a one-topic person).
I believe that watching good debaters in action would help. It might be even better to focus on different aspects separately (observing their body language, listening to how they use their voice, understanding their frames, etc.).
I don’t want to comment on the whole Leverage Controversy as I’m far away enough from the action that other people are probably better positioned to sensemake here.
On the other hand, I have been watching some of Geoff Anders’ streams does seem pretty good at theorising by virtue of being able to live-stream this. I expect this to be a lot harder than it looks, when I’m trying to figure out my position on an issue, I often find myself going over the same ground again and again and again, until eventually I figure out a way of putting what I want to express into words.
That said, I’ve occasionally debated with some high-level debaters and given almost any topic they’re able to pretty much effortlessly generate a case and how the debate is likely to play out. I guess it seems on par with this.
So I think his ability to livestream demonstrates a certain level of skill, but I almost view it as speed-chess vs. chess, in that there’s only so much you can tell about a person’s ability in normal chess from how good they are at speed chess.
I think I’ve improved my own ability to theorise by watching the streams, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I improved similarly from watching Eliezer, Anna or Duncan livestream their attempts to think through an issue. I also expect that there’s a similar chance I would have gained a significant proportion of the benefit just from watching someone with my abilities or even slightly worse on the basis of a) understanding the theorising process from the outside b) noticing where they frame things differently than I would have.
Trying to think about what is required to be a good debater:
general intelligence—to quickly understand the situation and lay out your response;
“talking” skills—large vocabulary, talking clearly, not being shy, body language and other status signals;
background knowledge—knowing the models, facts, frequently used arguments, etc.;
precomputed results—if you already spent a lot of time thinking about a topic, maybe even debating it.
These do not work the same way, for example clear talking and good body language generalize well; having lots of precomputed results in one area will not help you much in other areas (unless you use a lot of analogies to the area you are familiar with—if you do this the first time, you may impress people, but if you do this repeatedly, they will notice that you are a one-topic person).
I believe that watching good debaters in action would help. It might be even better to focus on different aspects separately (observing their body language, listening to how they use their voice, understanding their frames, etc.).
Any in particular, or what most of them are like?
In what ways do you believe you improved?
I think I’m more likely to realise that I haven’t hit the nail on the head and so I go back and give it another go.