
The Best Advice I have Received - GVRV
http://www.onesock.net/?p=3506
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davidbnewquist
After listing useful advice he's received over the years, the author
appropriately offers some critial meta-advice: write down (and analyze) advice
that _you_ find interesting in order to put it into practice.

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frossie
_“Power unexercised is pointless”_

Hopefully Pakistan doesn't feel that way about its nuclear arsenal.

I found that example perplexing. He puts the company into liquidation without
discussing it with the other shareholders first. Why is this a good thing?

~~~
Deestan
Pakistan doesn't actually have to _fire_ the weapons; merely having the
weapons at all lets them exercise more political power than they would
otherwise have.

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Confusion
_“If you get to thirty and you still think persuasion is about making a
logical argument, you have already lost”_

I feel this kind of advice, that comes in many variations, has one major
pitfall: you need to do _more_ than make a logical argument, but often you
still need the logical argument. People smell bullshit a mile away and get
properly annoyed when someone tries to sell them some.

~~~
ibsulon
Ethos, Pathos, Logos.

Remember that.

Appeal to authority is only a logical fallacy -- it is, on the other hand,
sound persuasive advice.

Appeal to emotion is only a logical fallacy -- it is, on the other hand, a
valuable persuasive tool in many situations.

Appeal to logic is, therefore, only part of the equation.

~~~
azanar
It is, however, the part of the equation least susceptible to abuse by those
who want other people to act in an unwise fashion. A strong ethos or pathos
could convince people to do something that a moment of thought would draw them
strongly against.

The original author is right that logical arguments alone do not persuade
people in general, especially if that is all the persuader offers. I am not
yet thirty, and have figured this out, so I guess I'm ahead. :-)

However, I think it is tragic that logical arguments are not sufficient, nor
even sometimes _necessary_ for people to follow a particular philosophy or
call to action. I don't understand the cause behind this behavior, but I can't
imagine humankind being any worse off if people became more convinced that
logic and reasoning do matter, and using them had concrete benefits.
Ironically, making this appeal will likely involve the other two until
acceptance of logic is sufficiently bootstrapped.

I'll leave this with a quote from Sam Harris, which really put better words to
this than I ever could. "There is no society in human history that ever
suffered because its people became too reasonable."

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VinzO
So many typos. A spelling check wouldn't hurt.

