The Aumann bit is him quoting something which doesn’t actually prove what he’s quoting it to prove, but which he knows his opponent can’t refute because he’s never heard of it. It isn’t him throwing his hands up in the air—it’s an argument, just a fallacious one.
Both times he used it, he’s giving up on getting somewhere and is just screwing with the guy; it’s not part of his main argument.
The first time he’s trying to stop him from weaseling out. Plus, Aumann doesn’t mean that, taken in its literal form. But, it applies indirectly, aspirationally: to try to be rational and try to share relevant information, etc. so as to approximate the conditions under which it would apply. Indeed, the most reasonable interpretation of the other’s suggestion to agree to disagree is that they both stop trying to be more right than they are (because uncomfortable, can of worms, etc). That’s the opposite of the rationalist approach, and going against that is exactly how he used it - ‘if they disagree, someone is doing something wrong’, is not very wrong.
The second time, it’s just ‘Screw this, I’m out of here’.
Both times he used it, he’s giving up on getting somewhere and is just screwing with the guy; it’s not part of his main argument.
It’s worded like an argument. And he and the bystanders would, when listening to it, believe that Eliezer had made an argument that nobody was able to refute. The impact of Eliezer’s words depends on deceiving him and the bystanders into thinking it is, and was intended as, a valid argument.
In one sense this is a matter of semantics. If you knowingly state something that sounds like an argument, but is fallacious, for the purposes of tricking someone, does that count as “making a bad argument” (in which case Eliezer is using the Chewbacca Defense) or “not making an argument at all” (in which case he isn’t)?
The Aumann bit is him quoting something which doesn’t actually prove what he’s quoting it to prove, but which he knows his opponent can’t refute because he’s never heard of it. It isn’t him throwing his hands up in the air—it’s an argument, just a fallacious one.
Both times he used it, he’s giving up on getting somewhere and is just screwing with the guy; it’s not part of his main argument.
The first time he’s trying to stop him from weaseling out. Plus, Aumann doesn’t mean that, taken in its literal form. But, it applies indirectly, aspirationally: to try to be rational and try to share relevant information, etc. so as to approximate the conditions under which it would apply. Indeed, the most reasonable interpretation of the other’s suggestion to agree to disagree is that they both stop trying to be more right than they are (because uncomfortable, can of worms, etc). That’s the opposite of the rationalist approach, and going against that is exactly how he used it - ‘if they disagree, someone is doing something wrong’, is not very wrong.
The second time, it’s just ‘Screw this, I’m out of here’.
It’s worded like an argument. And he and the bystanders would, when listening to it, believe that Eliezer had made an argument that nobody was able to refute. The impact of Eliezer’s words depends on deceiving him and the bystanders into thinking it is, and was intended as, a valid argument.
In one sense this is a matter of semantics. If you knowingly state something that sounds like an argument, but is fallacious, for the purposes of tricking someone, does that count as “making a bad argument” (in which case Eliezer is using the Chewbacca Defense) or “not making an argument at all” (in which case he isn’t)?