From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Mon Jun 16 2003 - 17:34:36 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> Regardless of how bad it looks, try whenever possible to stop
> short of accusations. One trick that works for me is to
> abruptly change my (now written) accusation into a question.
>
> Here is how: Append the words "Why shouldn't someone think
> that" before the accusation, and then add the words "given your
> remark here?", or "since you say [quote]".
>
> Presto. You've made your point, you've said what you're
> thinking, and yet, as the other party studies what you have
> written, he or she can find nothing unfair or excessively
> confrontational.
Why shouldn't someone think that this is a transparently obvious ploy?
-- Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/ Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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