Response to Discursive Games, Discursive Warfare

The discursive distortions you discuss serve two functions:

1 Narratives can only serve as effective group identifiers by containing fixed elements that deviate from what naive reason would think. In other words, something about the shared story has to be a costly signal of loyalty, and therefore a sign of a distorted map. An undistorted map would be advantageous for anyone regardless of group membership; a distorted map is advantageous only for people using it as an identifying trait. Commercial mapmakers will sometimes include phantom towns so that they (and courts) can distinguish competitors who plagiarized their work from competitors who independently mapped the same terrain. Point deer make horse can catalyze the formation of a faction because it reduces motive ambiguity in a way that "point deer make deer" could not.

"Not Invented Here" dynamics are part of this. To occupy territory [...]

---

First published:
January 9th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/gLmwmzq5sCijDesGc/discursive-warfare-and-faction-formation

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Discursive Warfare and Faction Formation” by Benquo

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Discursive Warfare and Faction Formation” by Benquo