I do it too—using some of the smarter and more critical posters on LW, actually—and I also think it helps. I think this diffuses some of LucasSloan’s criticisms below—if it’s a real person, you can to a reasonable extent imagine how they might reply.
I think it works because placing yourself in a conflict (even an imaginary one) narrows and sharpens your focus as the subconscious processes get activated that try to ‘win’ it.
The risk is though, that like any opinion formed or argued under the presence of an emotion, is that you become unreasonably certain of it.
I don’t get the ‘conflict’ feeling when I do it. It feels more like ‘betting mode’, but with more specific counterarguments. Since it’s all imaginary anyway, I don’t feel committed enough to one side to activate conflict mode.
I do it too—using some of the smarter and more critical posters on LW, actually—and I also think it helps. I think this diffuses some of LucasSloan’s criticisms below—if it’s a real person, you can to a reasonable extent imagine how they might reply.
I think it works because placing yourself in a conflict (even an imaginary one) narrows and sharpens your focus as the subconscious processes get activated that try to ‘win’ it.
The risk is though, that like any opinion formed or argued under the presence of an emotion, is that you become unreasonably certain of it.
I don’t get the ‘conflict’ feeling when I do it. It feels more like ‘betting mode’, but with more specific counterarguments. Since it’s all imaginary anyway, I don’t feel committed enough to one side to activate conflict mode.