As the second crux to deluks917 (are you using your real name on LW?) in the example he described I want to add a couple of observations to this very good write-up:
1. Exchanging emails ahead of time is really important both for having a list of topics to cover and also a list of topics to ignore. For example, in the email deluks brought up the topic of how CFAR spends its budget. In the middle of a discussion, this may have felt to me like an unfair attempt to attack my pro-CFAR position with flanking action. Over email, it was much easier to calmly realize that I know very little about the subject and it has little implication for the actual question. We both just agreed to ignore it, and it didn’t come up in the discussion.
2. Throughout the discussion I felt like it was really a debate with some double crux forced on the end. In retrospect I think that this is the way it should feel. In a debate I am challenging the other person for their best arguments, which I probably won’t find immediately convincing. However, I can then ask myself “what should be added to their argument that would convince me?” I can start with answering all of those with “if Metatron stepped down from heaven to confirm it” and then adjust over time to something more reasonable.
Basically, having to “defend” against an argument is the way to find out where your defense is weakest and which “crux” would bring it down crashing.
3. Both #1 and #2 require a high level of trust and good faith. The fact that we did the discussion publicly as a specific “double crux demonstration” probably helped keep us both at our most charitable. Perhaps having observers who expect a double crux is important.
As the second crux to deluks917 (are you using your real name on LW?) in the example he described I want to add a couple of observations to this very good write-up:
1. Exchanging emails ahead of time is really important both for having a list of topics to cover and also a list of topics to ignore. For example, in the email deluks brought up the topic of how CFAR spends its budget. In the middle of a discussion, this may have felt to me like an unfair attempt to attack my pro-CFAR position with flanking action. Over email, it was much easier to calmly realize that I know very little about the subject and it has little implication for the actual question. We both just agreed to ignore it, and it didn’t come up in the discussion.
2. Throughout the discussion I felt like it was really a debate with some double crux forced on the end. In retrospect I think that this is the way it should feel. In a debate I am challenging the other person for their best arguments, which I probably won’t find immediately convincing. However, I can then ask myself “what should be added to their argument that would convince me?” I can start with answering all of those with “if Metatron stepped down from heaven to confirm it” and then adjust over time to something more reasonable.
Basically, having to “defend” against an argument is the way to find out where your defense is weakest and which “crux” would bring it down crashing.
3. Both #1 and #2 require a high level of trust and good faith. The fact that we did the discussion publicly as a specific “double crux demonstration” probably helped keep us both at our most charitable. Perhaps having observers who expect a double crux is important.