If you would more reliably understand what people mean by specifically treating it as the product of a rational and intelligent person, then executing that hack should lead to your observing a much higher rate of rationality and intelligence in discussions than you would previously have predicted. If the thesis is true, many remarks which, using your earlier methodology, you would have dismissed as the product of diseased reasoning will prove to be sound upon further inquiry.
If, however, you execute the hack for a few months and discover no change in the rate at which you discover apparently-wrong remarks to admit to sound interpretations, then TheAncientGeek’s thesis would fail the test.
True, although being told less often that you are missing the point isn’t, in and of itself, all that valuable; the value is in getting the point of those who otherwise would have given up on you with a remark along those lines.
(Note that I say “less often”; I was recently told that this criticism of Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations”, which I had invoked in a discussion of “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, missed the point of the story—to which I replied along the lines of, “I get the point, but I don’t agree with it.”)
That looks like a test of my personal ability to form correct first-impression estimates.
Also “will prove to be sound upon further inquiry” is an iffy part. In practice what usually happens is that statement X turns out to be technically true only under conditions A, B, and C, however in practice there is the effect Y which counterbalances X and the implementation of X is impractical for a variety of reasons, anyway. So, um, was statement X “sound”? X-/
That looks like a test of my personal ability to form correct first-impression estimates.
Precisely.
Also “will prove to be sound upon further inquiry” is an iffy part. In practice what usually happens is that statement X turns out to be technically true only under conditions A, B, and C, however in practice there is the effect Y which counterbalances X and the implementation of X is impractical for a variety of reasons, anyway. So, um, was statement X “sound”? X-/
Ah, I see. “Sound” is not the right word for what I mean; what I would expect to occur if the thesis is correct is that statements will prove to be apposite or relevant or useful—that is to say, valuable contributions in the context within which they were uttered. In the case of X, this would hold if the person proposing X believed that those conditions applied in the case described.
A concrete example would be someone who said, “you can divide by zero here” in reaction to someone being confused by a definition of the derivative of a function in terms of the limit of a ratio.
I believe this disagreement is testable by experiment.
Do elaborate.
If you would more reliably understand what people mean by specifically treating it as the product of a rational and intelligent person, then executing that hack should lead to your observing a much higher rate of rationality and intelligence in discussions than you would previously have predicted. If the thesis is true, many remarks which, using your earlier methodology, you would have dismissed as the product of diseased reasoning will prove to be sound upon further inquiry.
If, however, you execute the hack for a few months and discover no change in the rate at which you discover apparently-wrong remarks to admit to sound interpretations, then TheAncientGeek’s thesis would fail the test.
You will also get less feedback on the lines of “you just don’t get it”
True, although being told less often that you are missing the point isn’t, in and of itself, all that valuable; the value is in getting the point of those who otherwise would have given up on you with a remark along those lines.
(Note that I say “less often”; I was recently told that this criticism of Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations”, which I had invoked in a discussion of “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, missed the point of the story—to which I replied along the lines of, “I get the point, but I don’t agree with it.”)
That looks like a test of my personal ability to form correct first-impression estimates.
Also “will prove to be sound upon further inquiry” is an iffy part. In practice what usually happens is that statement X turns out to be technically true only under conditions A, B, and C, however in practice there is the effect Y which counterbalances X and the implementation of X is impractical for a variety of reasons, anyway. So, um, was statement X “sound”? X-/
Precisely.
Ah, I see. “Sound” is not the right word for what I mean; what I would expect to occur if the thesis is correct is that statements will prove to be apposite or relevant or useful—that is to say, valuable contributions in the context within which they were uttered. In the case of X, this would hold if the person proposing X believed that those conditions applied in the case described.
A concrete example would be someone who said, “you can divide by zero here” in reaction to someone being confused by a definition of the derivative of a function in terms of the limit of a ratio.