"Basics of Rationalist Discourse" by Duncan Sabien
LessWrong (Curated & Popular)
00:00
The Zeroth Guideline, Expect Good Discourse to Sometimes Require Energy
A culture of clear thinking, clear communication and collaborative truth-seeking is not the natural default state of affairs. It's endothermic, requiring a regular influx of attention and effort to keep it from degrading back into a state more typical of the rest of the internet. This doesn't mean that commentary must always be high-effort, nor does it mean that any individual user is on the hook for doing a hard thing at any given moment. But in moments where meeting the standards outlined above would take too much energy, one should lean towards saying nothing rather than actively eroding them.
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