Still, the quality of discussion is better defended by driving him away than by writing quality rebuttals, at least after the points useful to general lurkers are covered. The problem is not his position, but his lack of skill for participating in a rational argument (which can change in the future, but not overnight).
The problem is not his position, but his lack of skill for participating in a rational argument (which can change in the future, but not overnight).
I would go a step further and suggest it is a lack of skill in participating in community discussions. Terrible argument is by no means the distinguishing feature. In fact, a complete lack of skill in participating in rational argument would not stop someone from being accepted (even) here assuming they had the right set of social traits.
Is there anyone who you think is socially accepted here while displaying such complete lack of skill?
And exactly how would someone with rudimentary social skills answer that? Almost certainly not by supplying an example with proof! ;)
What I am comfortable saying, and I would be surprised if others didn’t share my sentiment at least partially, is that there are people here who I would welcome even if they lacked any talent in argument. There are contributions that can be made that are rather independent of being able to argue well.
And yet I suggest that if one has those other aspects the ability to be moved by rational argument becomes less relevant to an even greater degree. For the purpose of predicting social acceptance even here it is useful to model ‘being moved by a rational argument’ as an act of submission, something that is vital if you lack social prowess but can be detrimental when other people would respect your dominance even when speaking nonsense. We may try to compensate for it but we’re still apes. Social considerations completely dwarf rational ones for the purposes we are considering.
Still, the quality of discussion is better defended by driving him away than by writing quality rebuttals, at least after the points useful to general lurkers are covered. The problem is not his position, but his lack of skill for participating in a rational argument (which can change in the future, but not overnight).
I would go a step further and suggest it is a lack of skill in participating in community discussions. Terrible argument is by no means the distinguishing feature. In fact, a complete lack of skill in participating in rational argument would not stop someone from being accepted (even) here assuming they had the right set of social traits.
Skill in participating in rational argument is one of the social traits that is valued here. Absent an actual example, I find your claim implausible.
Is there anyone who you think is socially accepted here while displaying such complete lack of skill?
And exactly how would someone with rudimentary social skills answer that? Almost certainly not by supplying an example with proof! ;)
What I am comfortable saying, and I would be surprised if others didn’t share my sentiment at least partially, is that there are people here who I would welcome even if they lacked any talent in argument. There are contributions that can be made that are rather independent of being able to argue well.
If one can be moved by a rational argument, other aspects become much less relevant.
And yet I suggest that if one has those other aspects the ability to be moved by rational argument becomes less relevant to an even greater degree. For the purpose of predicting social acceptance even here it is useful to model ‘being moved by a rational argument’ as an act of submission, something that is vital if you lack social prowess but can be detrimental when other people would respect your dominance even when speaking nonsense. We may try to compensate for it but we’re still apes. Social considerations completely dwarf rational ones for the purposes we are considering.