Duh, by noticing that you are better than average in other areas, but poor at politics. This is the situation a lot of us face.
But what are these criteria by which you can reliably conclude that you are better in other areas than in politics? Moreover, what are these peculiar sources of bias and delusions that manifest themselves in politics but not elsewhere, so that you can be confident that they cloud only your judgment about matters of politics but not other things? (And that they can therefore be set aside as a separate and unique problem.)
Of course, the answers are evident if we compare politics only with hard sciences. However, I have got the impression (perhaps incorrect) that in the space of all possible topics, you also draw another boundary specifically around politics (not least due to your frequent comments about non-hard-scientific topics).
Also please note that SarahC has updated from answering “yes, but be careful” to answering “no”. Has anyone updated in the opposite direction?
I am somewhat puzzled by the fact that SarahC nevertheless replies to my comments that deal with politically sensitive topics from time to time (most recently today), not to condemn them, but in fact prompting further discussion. My conjecture is that she has in mind a much narrower definition of political topics than we do, one where even I might agree that the questions themselves are often senseless to begin with.
She is presumably reading this, so I hereby invite her to clarify this.
[Edit—forgot to add:] It’s similar with other people—I’m observing their revealed preferences, not abstract statements. I would never be so impertinent to make comments about politically sensitive topics on this forum if it actually provoked unfriendly reactions in terms of votes and replies. But instead, when I do make them, I almost invariably encounter upvotes and interested replies. Or do you think I should make some additional considerations here? (I’m really asking in good faith.)
Ok: what I think about this is a little nuanced. I don’t think we’ll do well with debates on literal “politics”—that is, politicians, elections, and laws. I didn’t like the flamewars about gender and PC a while back. It’s a little too much navel-gazing and too adversarial. LW does a lot of different things, but “stay constructive” is a good ethos to keep; I enjoy posts that call my attention to something interesting I can learn. Pure arguing for the “pleasure” of spoiling for a fight is somewhat addictive but ultimately disappointing.
As to why I encourage VladimirM’s comments on politically sensitive topics—I don’t really consider that “politics.” I wanted to know what you thought about education, most recently, and I literally wanted to know what you thought about how best to teach children. If we’ve got to taboo every topic that could potentially touch on human social organization, we have a VERY narrow range of topics and they’ve pretty much all got to be written in LaTeX.
To be blunt: I don’t see any virtue in pre-labeling these topics as “politically sensitive.” I’m getting rid of my own bad habit of labeling everything “left,” “right,” or “libertarian.” When you preface your statements by “You/the establishment/the socialists will hate me for what I’m going to say,” well, you’re just priming more people to hate you for what you’re going to say. I’m being encouraging with you, Vladimir, partly because I want to know about areas where mainstream popular consensus may be wrong, and partly because I want to encourage a norm of talking about these things in a non-adversarial, thoughtful, non-political way. I’m trying to model what I’d like to see more of.
cousin_it:
But what are these criteria by which you can reliably conclude that you are better in other areas than in politics? Moreover, what are these peculiar sources of bias and delusions that manifest themselves in politics but not elsewhere, so that you can be confident that they cloud only your judgment about matters of politics but not other things? (And that they can therefore be set aside as a separate and unique problem.)
Of course, the answers are evident if we compare politics only with hard sciences. However, I have got the impression (perhaps incorrect) that in the space of all possible topics, you also draw another boundary specifically around politics (not least due to your frequent comments about non-hard-scientific topics).
I am somewhat puzzled by the fact that SarahC nevertheless replies to my comments that deal with politically sensitive topics from time to time (most recently today), not to condemn them, but in fact prompting further discussion. My conjecture is that she has in mind a much narrower definition of political topics than we do, one where even I might agree that the questions themselves are often senseless to begin with.
She is presumably reading this, so I hereby invite her to clarify this.
[Edit—forgot to add:] It’s similar with other people—I’m observing their revealed preferences, not abstract statements. I would never be so impertinent to make comments about politically sensitive topics on this forum if it actually provoked unfriendly reactions in terms of votes and replies. But instead, when I do make them, I almost invariably encounter upvotes and interested replies. Or do you think I should make some additional considerations here? (I’m really asking in good faith.)
Ok: what I think about this is a little nuanced. I don’t think we’ll do well with debates on literal “politics”—that is, politicians, elections, and laws. I didn’t like the flamewars about gender and PC a while back. It’s a little too much navel-gazing and too adversarial. LW does a lot of different things, but “stay constructive” is a good ethos to keep; I enjoy posts that call my attention to something interesting I can learn. Pure arguing for the “pleasure” of spoiling for a fight is somewhat addictive but ultimately disappointing.
As to why I encourage VladimirM’s comments on politically sensitive topics—I don’t really consider that “politics.” I wanted to know what you thought about education, most recently, and I literally wanted to know what you thought about how best to teach children. If we’ve got to taboo every topic that could potentially touch on human social organization, we have a VERY narrow range of topics and they’ve pretty much all got to be written in LaTeX.
To be blunt: I don’t see any virtue in pre-labeling these topics as “politically sensitive.” I’m getting rid of my own bad habit of labeling everything “left,” “right,” or “libertarian.” When you preface your statements by “You/the establishment/the socialists will hate me for what I’m going to say,” well, you’re just priming more people to hate you for what you’re going to say. I’m being encouraging with you, Vladimir, partly because I want to know about areas where mainstream popular consensus may be wrong, and partly because I want to encourage a norm of talking about these things in a non-adversarial, thoughtful, non-political way. I’m trying to model what I’d like to see more of.