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A comment on Encountering Thomas Sowell. Parent comment

Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by MuffinFlavored on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @11:08AM (#26477727)
I have this feeling Sowell isn’t liked/respected by AOC/Pelosi because of how hard he disagrees with them. Can anybody tell me how he is perceived by liberals? Not trying to get political. Genuinely curious if he is an outcast to the left because a ton of what he says seems to fall into “conservative views”.
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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by chmod600 on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @11:48AM (#26478391)
He's mostly dismissed/ignored by the left.
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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by MuffinFlavored on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @02:06PM (#26480555)
That's why I thought. Why would you say that is? He's obviously educated and speaks with "facts" that have "references", but it just feels like the left does not like his facts/does not agree with the same conclusion his references reach.

I'm not big into politics but I don't really understand how two different parties can both use "science and data" to reach totally separate conclusions. Which one is lying/wrong?

As a programmer, it just doesn't compute. Input and output and all that.

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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by chmod600 on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @02:15PM (#26480667)
Politics is informed by data, but it's not a science. There is no "right" answer (though arguably a lot of wrong ones).

Think of stuff that programmers do argue about. Type systems, databases, architecture, agile development, etc.

Logic is a great tool, but it's also more limited than people realize.

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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by TomatoDash on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @01:38PM (#26480129)
I have in the past read a few short pieces by Sowell. Impression: weak normative reasoning, shaky empirical claims. I'd be happy if you steelman Sowell for me. Point to at most 10 pages of text where you think he is at his best, giving an argument for something supported by sound reasoning and strong empirical evidence. It might update my view of him.
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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by Igelau on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @02:15PM (#26480676)
> I'd be happy if you steelman Sowell for me.

That's not at all how a steel man argument works. You're supposed to commit to building the best form of your opponent's argument and verify that they themselves agree with it. You don't ask someone to do it for you.

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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by TomatoDash on Wednesday March 17, 2021 @11:03AM (#26492191)
> That's not at all how a steel man argument works

With steelmanning I mean "the act of taking a view, or opinion, or argument and constructing the strongest possible version of it."[1] If you dispute that definition[2] then mentally swap the term to one you think better fits what I proposed.

[1] https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/steelmanning

[2] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-...

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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by threatofrain on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @02:23PM (#26480777)
It’s an open invitation and like all conversation, it either appeals to you or it doesn’t. As to whether anything works, the proof is in the pudding.
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Re:Encountering Thomas Sowell by monstersinF on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @05:32PM (#26483321)
That’s not what TomatoDash was asking for though
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