How functional can our community be without pushing back against people like Ziz? Richard’s comment seems to be a way of doing so, and thus potentially useful.
In general, the politician’s syllogism fails because not only must we do something, but we must do something that works and doesn’t cause side effects that are worse than its benefits and doesn’t have too high opportunity costs etc. In this case, it’s valuable for people to “push back against people like Ziz”, but it’s disvaluable for people to have awful values (like not caring about animal suffering despite believing it to be real), and to be hyperbolic and confrontational (as in “bring on the death threats” or describing a poorly thought-out blog as a “cesspit”).
Good analogy, but I think it breaks down. The politician’s syllogism, and the resulting policies, are bad because they tend to make the world worse. I would say that Richard’s comment is an improvement, even if you think it might be a suboptimal one, and that pushing back against improvements tends to result in fewer improvements. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good is a saying for very good reason.
The syllogism here is more like:
Something beneficial ought to be done
This is beneficial.
Therefore I probably ought not to oppose this, though if I see a better option I’ll do that instead of doubling down on this.
It could be that Richard’s comment is actually good. I still think that the argument I quoted fails to establish that, for the same reason the politician’s syllogism doesn’t work.
Given Ziz’s explicit calling for people to die, I don’t think there is anything hyperbolic about my “bring on the death threats”. Ziz’s blog is not “poorly thought-out”, it is a condensed nugget of evil. I am not the only one here to have observed this.
I understand from what was posted here that she is currently, or at least recently, in police custody under suspicion of murder. [ETA: Correction: in custody for obstructing police investigation; separately, under suspicion of murder.] Anyway, I’m addressing the LW audience, not Ziz. You know, the people who are disagreeing with what I said but (according to the karma) not on average disagreeing with my having said it.
This is basically the politician’s syllogism:
We must do something.
This is something.
Therefore, we must do this.
In general, the politician’s syllogism fails because not only must we do something, but we must do something that works and doesn’t cause side effects that are worse than its benefits and doesn’t have too high opportunity costs etc. In this case, it’s valuable for people to “push back against people like Ziz”, but it’s disvaluable for people to have awful values (like not caring about animal suffering despite believing it to be real), and to be hyperbolic and confrontational (as in “bring on the death threats” or describing a poorly thought-out blog as a “cesspit”).
Good analogy, but I think it breaks down. The politician’s syllogism, and the resulting policies, are bad because they tend to make the world worse. I would say that Richard’s comment is an improvement, even if you think it might be a suboptimal one, and that pushing back against improvements tends to result in fewer improvements. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good is a saying for very good reason.
The syllogism here is more like:
Something beneficial ought to be done
This is beneficial.
Therefore I probably ought not to oppose this, though if I see a better option I’ll do that instead of doubling down on this.
It could be that Richard’s comment is actually good. I still think that the argument I quoted fails to establish that, for the same reason the politician’s syllogism doesn’t work.
Given Ziz’s explicit calling for people to die, I don’t think there is anything hyperbolic about my “bring on the death threats”. Ziz’s blog is not “poorly thought-out”, it is a condensed nugget of evil. I am not the only one here to have observed this.
So here we are.
LessWrong is not her blog.
Of course it isn’t. Her blog is sinceriously.fyi and that is what I was referring to.
So go tell her, is my point.
I understand from what was posted here that she is currently, or at least recently, in police custody under suspicion of murder. [ETA: Correction: in custody for obstructing police investigation; separately, under suspicion of murder.] Anyway, I’m addressing the LW audience, not Ziz. You know, the people who are disagreeing with what I said but (according to the karma) not on average disagreeing with my having said it.