> Sometimes I’m about to bring up an idea that is common in the LW cannon, but then think, “Oh, for this to make sense to them, I’d first have to explain this, and for that to make sense I’d have to explain—” and by then I’ve lost the thread of the conversation and just abort the idea and try to catch up.
Oh, I am so familiar with this feeling. The inferential distance is like an abyss, and I feel like the rest of humanity is beyond my reach. Unfortunately, while Less Wrong increased my sanity, it didn’t increase my explaining skills enough to make this extra piece of sanity easy to communicate.
This is why I think one of the more useful scripts to have is the one for communicating, “I think that we should pause this argument and talk about this tangent idea for a bit, really focus on it, discuss it, and then come back to this one and see what changes.”
Even though you still bear the burden of trying to explain, you’ve at least created a space where they are giving you new idea thought, as opposed to being focused on the original issue and mostly ignoring you tangent rationality related idea.
This is why I think one of the more useful scripts to have is the one for communicating, “I think that we should pause this argument and talk about this tangent idea for a bit, really focus on it, discuss it, and then come back to this one and see what changes.”
Even though you still bear the burden of trying to explain, you’ve at least created a space where they are giving you new idea thought, as opposed to being focused on the original issue and mostly ignoring you tangent rationality related idea.