The message that I’m taking home from your post is that if we wish to be “less wrong” we should avoid sarcasm.
YES. And not just sarcasm, but a whole variety of devices of speech that fall under “not speaking with a straight face”. I’ve seen arguments couched in sarcasm with real rhetorical force, that simply could not be stated in straight-face language without looking obviously fallacious; and that’s leaving aside the effect you discuss, which is that it makes it harder for other people to discuss what you’ve said, or for that matter the straightforward way it makes the heat/light ratio worse.
I think that as we move from rationality as a lonely art to rationality as a group art, speaking with a straight face is one of the things we should be promoting. Though I’m sure I haven’t kept to this rule myself...
YES. And not just sarcasm, but a whole variety of devices of speech that fall under “not speaking with a straight face”. I’ve seen arguments couched in sarcasm with real rhetorical force, that simply could not be stated in straight-face language without looking obviously fallacious; and that’s leaving aside the effect you discuss, which is that it makes it harder for other people to discuss what you’ve said, or for that matter the straightforward way it makes the heat/light ratio worse.
I think that as we move from rationality as a lonely art to rationality as a group art, speaking with a straight face is one of the things we should be promoting. Though I’m sure I haven’t kept to this rule myself...