taboo

tl;dr: when having a disagreement involving a complex concept X, consider saying what you actually mean by X, or both parties might just be talking past each other! Taboo is one of my favorite techniques. I find taboo extremely useful at resolving confusing problems. The idea of taboo is as follows: For instance, suppose you were discussing judgement. A hypothetical conversation: JJ: It’s bad to judge people, because it makes you have negative feelings towards them and betrays your values of loving and helping other people. ST: No, it’s good to judge people, because it helps you learn what actions you want to avoid, and it also allows you to help other people course-correct when they are doing bad things. Resolution JJ: Oh, now that we’re using taboo, I guess what I really meant was that it’s bad to label people, because this results in you being negatively oriented towards them, harming both parties. ST: Oh I see. And what I meant was actually that it’s useful to appraise people’s act

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• Arjun Khandelwal