“Your argument is fallacious because X is not a central category member. And it’s not a central category member because…I say so?”
In my view, part of what makes the non-central argument a fallacy is the ad hoc use of the 'overly restrictive definition'.
Whoever argues that "MLK is a criminal" with the intent of instilling the negative connotation of the term is unlikely to apply the same standard everywhere.
One in that case could reply that anyone who ever opposed any non-democratic regime and was found guilty of sedition/instigation/etc.... is/was also a criminal.
If the proponent of the argument disagrees, we fall into a contradiction. If in favour of the extended use, the original concept - criminal - is stripped off its stereotypical baggage.
I believe Gaidai's Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию) also deserves an honorable mention, I am pretty sure it should be available with English subtitles.
Assuming that the goal is to 'raise the sanity waterline', I would recommend against engaging on most social media platforms, except for promoting content that resides outside the media circle (e.g. a book, blogpost, paper, etc...).
The comments below are just my impressions, hope you'll find them useful.
Generally: frame the problem, define the terms, cite the sources, ask specific questions.
For example:
Statement A: Two of three children survived the day. Is this good or bad?
Answer: Neither, as it is an "is" statement. The moral judgment depends on the context, such as a woman considering aborting triplets.Statement B: Two of three children were murdered today. Is this good or bad?
Answer: This is bad because murder is considered morally wrong, making it an "ought" statement.
Statement B is a 'is' statement too. 'Is it good or bad' is by definition an ought statement.
For instance, some argue that an AI would be "dumb" to prioritize making paperclips over human life. However, this presupposes that the AI subscribes to the idea that human life ought to be prioritized, ignoring the possibility that the AI may not necessarily hold this view.
Who argues what? Some argue that the earth's flat. This doesn't make it worth discussing.
Here it seems that you're borderline strawmanning a poorly written and argued imaginary position (similarly to the section on the 'gender debate').
Also, the objection you raise misses the mark of the "AI would be dumb" argument. If I say that an intelligent system would assign high value to human life (because of training data, design, etc....) this would not amount to an 'ought' statement.
Therefore, both examples fail to describe the subject of discussion.
The Submerged Premise Problem occurs when participants in a debate operate on fundamentally different foundational beliefs or assumptions that are not explicitly stated or acknowledged. These hidden assumptions shape their arguments, leading to misunderstandings and preventing meaningful progress in discussions.
I think a better framing of the picture you paint (especially about the 'gender debate') is given in this article.
The correct thesis would be that there are no genders
I don't understand how 'no gender' would be the 'correct thesis' for either side of the debate. Not that the position is nonsensical, but why would it derive from the premises?
The discussions around the mid-2010s made these examples more prevalent, ironically affecting society's ability to understand the alignment problem in AI.
How do you establish causation?
In contrast, the culture wars before this era, such as the debate around intelligent design, were fought on more solid ontological grounds. There was a yield in these debates, with many prominent conservatives eventually accepting the theory of evolution. However, in today's social media-driven landscape, discussions often sink into the mud, lacking the same level of ontological clarity and resolution.
How do you draw a comparison of ontological ground solidity across different public debates? These statements ought to be backed with some sources and miss a lot of important context in order to draw inferences.
Looking forward for your opinion.
I personally wouldn't know how to contribute since the terms are so open ended. I would ask specific questions (after clarifying all the above).
I think the post would be fine as a first draft but requires some additional work.
Strongly upvoted, neat overview of the topic.
I especially like the academic format (e.g. with the sources clearly cited), as well as its conciseness and breadth.
“American financial criminal and businessman. Shkreli is the co-founder of the hedge funds Elea Capital, MSMB Capital Management, and MSMB Healthcare, the co-founder and former CEO of pharmaceutical firms Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals, and the former CEO of start-up software company Gödel Systems, which he founded in August 2016” (Wikipedia).
It should at least be mentioned that Shkreli is a convicted fraudster.
Most of the sources he cites are also referred to in my article, which of his points do you find the strongest that are not already addressed here?
I cite and contextualise the news article in my post (see second half of sec. 'Misrepresentation of evidence')
Ebright is cited in Butler's news post on Nature also referred to by Roko. The post is a brief summary of a debate on the usefulness of GoF research, and makes some other points, among which:
-Barich arguing that the project was funded because not so risky as to fall under the moratorium;
-"Although almost all coronaviruses isolated from bats have not been able to bind to the key human receptor, SHC014 is not the first that can do so. In 2013, researchers reported this ability for the first time in a different coronavirus isolated from the same bat population."
Natural coronaviruses were already able to bind to human receptors, that's arguably why GoF research was conducted in the first place.
In light of this, I don't think the news article is worth a significant update toward the lab-leak hypothesis: if anything, it shows that it was known since 2013 that coronaviruses could infect humans without host animals.
You can still write posts, it doesn't look like brute-force manufactured consensus to me. Your original post got over 200 karma which seems pretty high for a censorship attempt (whether intentional or not).
An anecdote from which I drew a similar conclusion to yours:
About ten years ago I went with my dad to a music hall where a local marching band was playing. I play a few instruments, have a solid grasp of music theory, etc..., but I'm no professional, while he has 'average Joe' music training.
I found the concert to be genuinely painful to listen to: entire sections not in tune with each other, very poor dynamics (brass way too loud, woodwinds barely audible), melodies all over the place, sudden tempo changes etc...
After the last piece, the audience asked for the encore. I figured it had to do with social pressure/convention/kindness. Before I could say anything, my dad proceeded to extol the band's musicianship and high level of the performance, assuming I too had enjoyed the experience.
I was (and still am) baffled.