A bit of fair warning: If you haven’t done so already, the About LessWrong and Welcome to LessWrong pages along with the FAQ should cover most of the community norms and important stuff you’d want to know to frequent this place.
More relevant to this post, the above sequence on words is in direct relationship with both your points and Yvain’s, and explains precisely how Yvain is right in that those forms and arguments can be wrong to use. For a particular example:
Euthanasia is murder!
It is technically murder. Those of us who are pro euthanasia just beleive it shouldn’t be illegal and therefore no longer murder.
While you’re at least not committing the mistake of Arguing By Definition, something many LessWrong users find very trollish, the “technically” part is exactly why Yvain calls this the Worst Argument in the World, in that, yes, the definition of murder does somewhat include the act of Euthanasia—and people know this—but euthanasia is very far from other kinds of murder. The full Human’s Guide to Words sequence covers these things pretty well, and along with the Core Sequences, establishes the basic rationality techniques that most people on LessWrong expect other users to use.
My aim is not to debate your arguments, however, but if you’d like I could gladly attempt to work with you on figuring out where your objections come from and how we can all have more accurate information and better communication channels. If I’m not mistaken, you’re exactly the kind of person LessWrong wants to attract.
Welcome to LessWrong!
A bit of fair warning: If you haven’t done so already, the About LessWrong and Welcome to LessWrong pages along with the FAQ should cover most of the community norms and important stuff you’d want to know to frequent this place.
None is required reading, but users will frequently point you to the Sequences if you’re doing or saying something that has been covered already, especially using words, labels and categories incorrectly.
More relevant to this post, the above sequence on words is in direct relationship with both your points and Yvain’s, and explains precisely how Yvain is right in that those forms and arguments can be wrong to use. For a particular example:
While you’re at least not committing the mistake of Arguing By Definition, something many LessWrong users find very trollish, the “technically” part is exactly why Yvain calls this the Worst Argument in the World, in that, yes, the definition of murder does somewhat include the act of Euthanasia—and people know this—but euthanasia is very far from other kinds of murder. The full Human’s Guide to Words sequence covers these things pretty well, and along with the Core Sequences, establishes the basic rationality techniques that most people on LessWrong expect other users to use.
My aim is not to debate your arguments, however, but if you’d like I could gladly attempt to work with you on figuring out where your objections come from and how we can all have more accurate information and better communication channels. If I’m not mistaken, you’re exactly the kind of person LessWrong wants to attract.