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by Igelau 1918 days ago
> I'd be happy if you steelman Sowell for me.

That's not at all how a steel man argument works. You're supposed to commit to building the best form of your opponent's argument and verify that they themselves agree with it. You don't ask someone to do it for you.

2 comments

> That's not at all how a steel man argument works

With steelmanning I mean "the act of taking a view, or opinion, or argument and constructing the strongest possible version of it."[1] If you dispute that definition[2] then mentally swap the term to one you think better fits what I proposed.

[1] https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/steelmanning

[2] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-...

It’s an open invitation and like all conversation, it either appeals to you or it doesn’t. As to whether anything works, the proof is in the pudding.
That’s not what TomatoDash was asking for though