Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Guidelines for productive discussions, published by ambigram on April 8, 2023 on LessWrong.

I enjoyed reading Duncan_Sabien's post, Basics of Rationalist Discourse, as well as the response posts and comments. The guidelines probably wouldn't have made sense to my beginner-self though, so I wanted to try creating a list that is more targeted at beginners. In that sense, this is more of a complement to the other pieces than an alternate take.

I am not really sure if I've captured everything important, and I don't really like the "Other notes" section because it feels randomly put together. What I'm most curious about is whether taking this approach can help address some of the criticisms of the original post. I've added some of my thinking behind this piece to the appendix.

On a site like Less Wrong, we want to promote discussions and conversations that help members improve at rationality. We want participants and the audience to walk away from discussions with a clearer, more accurate understanding of the world, one which enables them to act more effectively.

Here are some guidelines for more fruitful conversations:

1) Seek to be Less Wrong instead of More Right

It feels good to be right, to show that we are correct and others are wrong. However, this can be counter-productive. It encourages us to find ways to prove we are right instead of figuring out whether or not our beliefs are right in the first place. This makes it much less likely for us to arrive at the truth.

Let's instead focus on how we can be Less Wrong:

When you hear something that doesn't make sense, get curious instead of dismissive. After all, we each experience a very small slice of reality. If someone has a seemingly nonsensical opinion, maybe it's because we're missing out a perspective.

Steelman: When someone presents a criticism that you believe is flawed, see if you can improve the criticism and use it to identify a gap in your thinking.

Ask yourself, if you were wrong, how would you find out? If nothing can change your mind, further discussion would be pointless.

2) First, check your understanding

Communication is hard. Words mean different things to different people, and we add our own interpretations to things we hear. Make sure you are addressing what the other person is saying, and not just talking past each other. Sometimes that can mean having to do some background reading.

Paraphrase to check if you've understood the points. If you think that there is something being implied, make it explicit.

Check if what you are reading or hearing is as you expect, and take notice when you are confused

Ask clarifying questions if there's anything that confuses you, or if there's something that seems obviously wrong. There's usually reasons why people believe the things they believe, even for beliefs that seem nonsensical to you. Or maybe they just didn't express themselves very well, or maybe you misunderstood!

3) Say what you mean and mean what you say

It's usually okay to be imprecise in our daily conversations, but when we hold ourselves to higher standards, we get to practice thinking more clearly.

Say what you mean:

Sarcasm or exaggeration can work well in face-to-face conversations or where people have a shared context. It doesn't work as well online, where it's mostly text and the people come from different cultures. It can also make communication harder, e.g. if "everyone knows X" can be used an exaggeration, how do you say it if you mean the statement literally?

Imprecise statements like "A little bit more" works fine if you are talking about a glass of water at dinner but not if you are measuring out medicine for a patient. Being precise is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced, and is important for clear thinking. Let's try to be more precise than we might in our daily conversation...