But why cannot it be done e.g. by a largely pro-capitalism fellow writing a charitable steelman overview of anti-capitalist sentiments? How would it not have the effect of un-mindkilling? I actually intend to try it and I would try it here in LW Discussion if not for the fear that it will be downvoted be the strictly anti-politics members.
Theoretically? No reasons other than those I’ve given above. But empirically it’s awfully rare to do that successfully, and people have tried. About the only ones I’ve been happy with are written by our own Scott Alexander (of slatestarcodex), and his politics are close enough to mine that I don’t totally trust my judgment there; I’m more libertarian than he is, but that’s a relatively petty difference given what he tends to write about.
The more common outcome is that a writer sets out to build with steel but inadvertently builds with straw, not so much maliciously as through honest misunderstanding of the opposition, and is only confirmed by the exercise in their existing beliefs. We’re very good at fooling ourselves into thinking that more or less subtle caricatures accurately represent our opponents’ motives.
And I expect I’ll probably catch some flak for saying so, but I don’t have much faith in LW’s ability to move past that stage.
But why cannot it be done e.g. by a largely pro-capitalism fellow writing a charitable steelman overview of anti-capitalist sentiments? How would it not have the effect of un-mindkilling? I actually intend to try it and I would try it here in LW Discussion if not for the fear that it will be downvoted be the strictly anti-politics members.
Theoretically? No reasons other than those I’ve given above. But empirically it’s awfully rare to do that successfully, and people have tried. About the only ones I’ve been happy with are written by our own Scott Alexander (of slatestarcodex), and his politics are close enough to mine that I don’t totally trust my judgment there; I’m more libertarian than he is, but that’s a relatively petty difference given what he tends to write about.
The more common outcome is that a writer sets out to build with steel but inadvertently builds with straw, not so much maliciously as through honest misunderstanding of the opposition, and is only confirmed by the exercise in their existing beliefs. We’re very good at fooling ourselves into thinking that more or less subtle caricatures accurately represent our opponents’ motives.
And I expect I’ll probably catch some flak for saying so, but I don’t have much faith in LW’s ability to move past that stage.