I’d think the Gish mindset isn’t limited to people like your dad. I’d think that rationalists are vulnerable to it as well in any complex domain. It’s not like we’re doing literal bayesian updates or closed form proofs for our actually important beliefs like how hard alignment is or what methods are promising. In those areas no argument is totally closed, so weighing preponderance of decent arguments is about all we can do. So I’d say we’re all vulnerable to the Gish Fallacy to an important degree. And therefore the implicit Motte-And-Bailey fallacy.
l
Excellent point.
I’d think the Gish mindset isn’t limited to people like your dad. I’d think that rationalists are vulnerable to it as well in any complex domain. It’s not like we’re doing literal bayesian updates or closed form proofs for our actually important beliefs like how hard alignment is or what methods are promising. In those areas no argument is totally closed, so weighing preponderance of decent arguments is about all we can do. So I’d say we’re all vulnerable to the Gish Fallacy to an important degree. And therefore the implicit Motte-And-Bailey fallacy. l