Rob Bensinger argues that "ITT-passing and civility are good; 'charity' is bad; steelmanning is niche".

The ITT—Ideological Turing Test—is an exercise in which one attempts to present one's interlocutor's views as persuasively as the interlocutor themselves can, coined by Bryan Caplan in analogy to the Turing Test for distinguishing between humans and intelligent machines. (An AI that can pass as human must presumably possess human-like understanding; an opponent of an idea that can pass as an advocate for it presumably must possess an advocate's understanding.) "Steelmanning" refers to the practice of addressing a stronger version of an interlocutor's argument, coined in disanalogy to "strawmanning", the crime of addressing a weaker version of an interlocutor's argument in the hopes of fooling an audience (or oneself) that the original argument has been rebutted.

Bensinger describes steelmanning as "a useful niche skill", but thinks it isn't "a standard thing you [...]

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First published:
January 9th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/jo5Fhkb7escrYE9cC/on-the-contrary-steelmanning-is-normal-itt-passing-is-niche

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“On the Contrary, Steelmanning Is Normal; ITT-Passing Is Niche” by Zack_M_Davis

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“On the Contrary, Steelmanning Is Normal; ITT-Passing Is Niche” by Zack_M_Davis