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Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement

PostPosted: 13 Sep 2010
by ex-l
How to argue a point or disagree from one of the earliest pioneers of the internet ... and, hell, has the internet become the more pre-eminent venue for bad arguments even in the divine BK/Post-BK world.

The cheapest, dirtiest, or plain stupidest ways of arguing are at the bottom. I'd would say the way the BKWSU and most vocal BKs have responded to this forum are in the bottom three. No one has attempted the top ones. Usually they 'attack the person', including attempting to discredit the forum over the issue of anonymity, and attack the tone rather than examine the points being made or issues, i.e. because it is not said in a way they like, they play word police and ignore it.

Hierarchy_of_Disagreement.jpg

Paul Graham wrote:The web is turning writing into a conversation. Twenty years ago, writers wrote and readers read. The web lets readers respond, and increasingly they do—in comment threads, on forums, and in their own blog posts.

Many who respond to something disagree with it. That's to be expected. Agreeing tends to motivate people less than disagreeing. And when you agree there's less to say. You could expand on something the author said, but he has probably already explored the most interesting implications. When you disagree you're entering territory he may not have explored.

The result is there's a lot more disagreeing going on, especially measured by the word. That doesn't mean people are getting angrier. The structural change in the way we communicate is enough to account for it. But though it's not anger that's driving the increase in disagreement, there's a danger that the increase in disagreement will make people angrier. Particularly online, where it's easy to say things you'd never say face to face.

If we're all going to be disagreeing more, we should be careful to do it well. What does it mean to disagree well?

Re: Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement

PostPosted: 23 Sep 2010
by dubiousity
love this!

Re: Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement

PostPosted: 23 Sep 2010
by lokila
I agree :D