When debating with people, you should only make one inferential step per debate. Leave the next step for tomorrow, when the person has already accepted the former step (and probably believes it was actually their idea).
my opinions are uniquely valuable and important to share with others
They are valuable and important to you. Not to the others, yet.
I do think I’m smarter, more moderate, and more creative than most.
You may be right, but this is irrelevant here. People don’t automatically accept smarter people’s beliefs (and that’s probably a good thing).
Smart people’s willingness to privilege their own hypotheses on subjects outside their expertise is a chronic problem.
I have a very smart friend I met on the internet; we see each other when we are in each others (thousand-mile-away) neighborhood. We totally disagree on politics. But we have great conversations, because we can both laugh at the idiocy of our tribe. If you handle argument as a debate with a winner and a loser, no one wins and no one has any fun. I admit that it takes two people willing to treat it as an actual conversation, but you can help it along.
When debating with people, you should only make one inferential step per debate. Leave the next step for tomorrow, when the person has already accepted the former step (and probably believes it was actually their idea).
They are valuable and important to you. Not to the others, yet.
You may be right, but this is irrelevant here. People don’t automatically accept smarter people’s beliefs (and that’s probably a good thing).
It’s almost always a good thing, agreed.
Smart people’s willingness to privilege their own hypotheses on subjects outside their expertise is a chronic problem.
I have a very smart friend I met on the internet; we see each other when we are in each others (thousand-mile-away) neighborhood. We totally disagree on politics. But we have great conversations, because we can both laugh at the idiocy of our tribe. If you handle argument as a debate with a winner and a loser, no one wins and no one has any fun. I admit that it takes two people willing to treat it as an actual conversation, but you can help it along.