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God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
- Jacques Deval

I like to talk about big issues

Be it politics, religion, sociology, or the incredibly stupid name you chose for your firstborn, I have no fear of wading in where angels fear to tread.

Actually, I feel that generation of understanding is a stochastic process. Based on the data you have, you generate an opinion. Seek out someone with the oposite opinion and discuss the topic with them, in an open-minded fashion. Use the discussion to dig up further information and clarify flaws in your understanding. Examine the support for both sides of the issue. Reevaluate your position based on the new information and improved understanding, then generate a new opinion on the topic. Repeat the whole process by again finding someone who holds an opinion opposite to yours. By this method, the weak or unsupportable opinions will be torn apart and the strong or well supported understandings will survive.

This process, of course, relies heavily on finding knowledgable, smart, open-minded people with whom to have the argument. Since arguing about trivia is pointless, this means arguing about the things people really care about, a potentially risky thing with friends, and so it also requires finding people who can see an argument as an intellectual exercise and avoid taking things personally.

I have divided things into three broad categories. Which category in which things belong is largely a matter of opinion.

Discussions

Dialogues

Rants or diatribes

Page Last Modified: 2006 08 08, 03:47:14

Discussions, Dialogues, and Rants