The (apparent) reasoning I am challenging, Eliezer, is this: “Alice is making an invalid argument for side A” → “therefore Alice would not make an invalid argument for side B”. This seems faulty.
As some anecdata, I know several people who have done this precisely for global warming. I suspect Eliezer has spoken to them as well, because the standard response when you point out that they’re using the reverse of the “day of cold weather” argument they’ve derided is:
Well, it’s important to use only valid arguments… but there was a sustained pattern of record highs worldwide over multiple years which does count as evidence, and that particular very hot day was a part of that pattern, so it’s valid evidence for global warming.
Now, what I don’t know is if they actually wouldn’t reason wrongly on both sides, but have already been taught elsewhere the problem with the “day of cold weather” argument. It could still be that the problem is not malice but failure to generalise
As some anecdata, I know several people who have done this precisely for global warming. I suspect Eliezer has spoken to them as well, because the standard response when you point out that they’re using the reverse of the “day of cold weather” argument they’ve derided is:
Now, what I don’t know is if they actually wouldn’t reason wrongly on both sides, but have already been taught elsewhere the problem with the “day of cold weather” argument. It could still be that the problem is not malice but failure to generalise