Imagine that you encountered a car with square wheels
Inward steelmanning:“This is an abomination! It doesn’t work! But maybe with round wheels it would be beautiful. Or maybe a different vehicle with square wheels could be beautiful.”
Outward steelmanning:“This is ugly! It doesn’t work! But maybe if I imagine a world where this car works, it will change my standards of beauty. Maybe I will gain some insight about this world that I’m missing.”
If you want to be charitable, why not grant your opponent an entire universe with its own set of rules?
Related recommendation: Inward and outward steelmanning — LessWrong