I have this problem too. I had it before LessWrong, but reading the Sequences and acquiring more knowledge about reasoning mistakes made me see more mistakes, and theferefore to be annoyed more easily. My solution is fairly simple, though: 1) don’t talk about politics or religion with someone, if you don’t know whether they are able and willing to reason properly; 2) if, in a specific subject, someone is at Mount Stupid, don’t talk about that subject, too. 3) If you are caught by surprise and can’t avoid starting the conversation, you can always end it by answering a stupid statement with something along the line of “Well, I don’t know, that sounds a little weird, maybe I’m not getting what you mean. I think we can’t discuss it in depth right now, so maybe we should talk about something else?”, smiling and nodding. 4) If 3 doesn’t work, just tell them you need to go to the bathroom.
That has worked pretty well for me. In my university there are maybe 2 or 3 people who I can talk about politics even though they don’t agree with me, and the policy at 1 has been effective at avoiding conflict with everyone else. 2 is an extrapolation. I’ve used 3 to deal with an annoying friend who likes to talk about philosophy, and is convinced that Aquinas got it all right, as well as some of the “Color Politics” people when 1 fails.
I have this problem too. I had it before LessWrong, but reading the Sequences and acquiring more knowledge about reasoning mistakes made me see more mistakes, and theferefore to be annoyed more easily. My solution is fairly simple, though:
1) don’t talk about politics or religion with someone, if you don’t know whether they are able and willing to reason properly;
2) if, in a specific subject, someone is at Mount Stupid, don’t talk about that subject, too.
3) If you are caught by surprise and can’t avoid starting the conversation, you can always end it by answering a stupid statement with something along the line of “Well, I don’t know, that sounds a little weird, maybe I’m not getting what you mean. I think we can’t discuss it in depth right now, so maybe we should talk about something else?”, smiling and nodding.
4) If 3 doesn’t work, just tell them you need to go to the bathroom.
That has worked pretty well for me. In my university there are maybe 2 or 3 people who I can talk about politics even though they don’t agree with me, and the policy at 1 has been effective at avoiding conflict with everyone else. 2 is an extrapolation. I’ve used 3 to deal with an annoying friend who likes to talk about philosophy, and is convinced that Aquinas got it all right, as well as some of the “Color Politics” people when 1 fails.