News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People. Parent comment

Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by senekerim on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:23AM (#11158941)
OTOH if you've reached a point where you are ready to accept both 'A' and 'not A', you need to go back and re-examine your premises/assumptions (sort of a real life example of reductio ad absurdum). Related example: accepting 'the left is delusional and corrupt' and 'the right is delusional and corrupt' leads one to re-examine the validity and usefulness of this whole left-right spectrum of political thought.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by heegemcgee on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:27AM (#11158967)
I take the original "Hold in mind" to mean "consider, in detail", and it works better. Perhaps in line with "seek first to understand".
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by ch4s3 on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:29AM (#11158984)
I'm inclined to agree with this interpretation.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by jschwartzi on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:29AM (#11158973)
There's a difference between considering A and not A, and accepting A and not A. In formal logic, one or the other statement must be true. The point being made is that we should refrain from choosing the true statement until we've taken the time to consider both on their own merits.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by qznc on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:50AM (#11159172)
Mixing reality and absolute statements seems like a recipe for falsehood.

Probabilities work much better. "I'm 50% certain of A and 50% of not-A", which means complete ignorance. A "80% A" means you have an opinion, but you acknowledge a 20% possiblity of being wrong. If anybody claims "100% sure of something", it is an obvious sign of idiocy.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by jschwartzi on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @11:56AM (#11160281)
The purpose of ideal statements is to expose some facet of reality in isolation so that it can be understood. Where people get tripped up is in closing the loop and recognizing that the ideal is never present in isolation. It shows when they ignore details that might make their ideal less valid. They're still useful, though.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by jes on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @10:29AM (#11159520)
With respect, you seem to be saying that probabilities work better than absolutes, and yet your final sentence seems to be an absolute.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by Karunamon on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @01:19PM (#11160995)
I am 100% sure that anything measurable exists.

Something something Sith, something something absolutes :)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by GFK_of_xmaspast on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:59AM (#11159244)
On the other hand, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_excluded_middle#Critici...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by CJKinni on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:46AM (#11159133)
The competing positions in most arguments, especially political arguments, are not of the form 'A or Not A.' Including your own example.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People by pjc50 on Tuesday February 23, 2016 @09:41AM (#11159084)
Your related example is not an example of A and not A!
[ Parent | on HN ]