This is a linkpost for https://kevindorst.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-epistemic-empathy

TLDR: Why think your ideological opponents are unreasonable? Common reasons: their views are (1) absurd, or (2) refutable, or (3) baseless, or (4) conformist, or (5) irrational. None are convincing.

Elizabeth is skeptical about the results of the 2020 election. Theo thinks Republicans are planning to institute a theocracy. Alan is convinced that AI will soon take over the world.

You probably think some (or all) of them are unhinged.

As I’ve argued before, we seem to be losing our epistemic empathy: our ability to both (1) be convinced that someone's opinions are wrong, and yet (2) acknowledge that they might hold those opinions for reasonable reasons. For example, since the 90s our descriptions of others as ‘crazy’, ‘stupid’ or ‘fools’ has skyrocketed:

I think this is a mistake. Lots of my work aims to help us recover our epistemic empathy—to argue that [...]

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Outline:

(02:03) Absurdity.

(03:45) Ease.

(06:10) Baselessness.

(08:46) Conformity.

(10:00) Psychology.

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First published:
December 27th, 2023

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8kF6WZC7XBCwcRmrX/in-defense-of-epistemic-empathy

Linkpost URL:
https://kevindorst.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-epistemic-empathy

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

[Linkpost] “In Defense of Epistemic Empathy” by Kevin Dorst

LessWrong (30+ Karma)