Bits

Avoid and Practice

Truth-seeking is a duty. Most entries on this site end in the same shape: stop doing one thing and start doing another. This page collects those pairs, one line each. The linked entry makes the case, and it wins wherever the two disagree.

Talking with others

Avoid	Practice	Where
Feeding identity politics	Truth-seeking dialogue that treats disagreement as information	U.S. Identity Politics, Discourse
Arguing to win	Restate the other side so well they wish they had said it	Discourse
Settling a disagreement on a stage	Argue in writing, and bet on what would change your mind	Argue in Writing, Bet on Predictions
Ridicule	Education, respect, and rapport	Pseudoscience
Arguing someone out of a comforting belief	Norms, trusted messengers, and institutions	Comfort and Biases
Attacking the person	Criticize the position	Cold Logic, Dunning-Kruger
Bickering that scorns the listener	Disagree with civility, and say first what you agree on	Smug Pilots
Outrage and social punishment	Speed, simplicity, trusted messengers, and repetition	Viral Truth

Thinking

Avoid	Practice	Where
Collecting identity labels	Hold labels lightly and values firmly	Hold Your Identity Lightly
Reaching for the familiar model	Ask first which model fits	Domain-Specific Models
Relying on willpower	Institutions and tools outside the head	Two Systems
Grading your own paper	Welcome an honest review from someone who knows more	Dunning-Kruger
Taking a framing at face value	Ask who benefits from it	Perception Management
Believing a claim that needs many silent conspirators	Count the people who would have to keep the secret	Detecting Baloney
Judging a country by the people you know	Ask how big and how fair the sample is	Detecting Baloney
Staying deluded when facts are easy to check	Use AI and open data, and check the AI too	Detecting Baloney
Heavy partisan news	Cut back	The Perception Gap
Discounting help because a machine gave it	Judge the writing by its claims	Written With Help
Denying a distinction because there is no sharp line	Ask what the word is for, and set the gate there	Sorites Paradox

Public life

Avoid	Practice	Where
Blaming one face	Change the rules	Oligarchy
Treating markets as moral oracles	Judge them by their rules and incentives	Markets and Capitalism
Handing a public problem to one donor	Public rules, and grading giving on what it fixed	Whose Problem
Silence when the moment is consequential	Speak a little louder	The Money Exception
Purity tests	Coalitions with imperfect allies	Activism
Spending effort beyond your influence	Match effort to influence	Activism
Starting over each time	Build on each other’s work	Salomon’s House
Keeping quiet once an argument convinced you	Say so openly, and build on the work	After New Atheism
Closing the door behind you	Solidarity with those who opened it, and voting accordingly	Who Opened the Door
Easy reverence for the troops	Honor every profession that serves, and ask how troops are used	Who We Thank
Removing a workforce already here	A conditional path to legal status, with enforcement at the border	The Immigration Choice
Moral panics and purity tests	Equal rights, evidence, and free inquiry	Trans Issues
Standing aside while institutions weaken	Defend them early, by legal means too	The Orbán Playbook
Calling institutional decay strength	Judge by the Constitution, restraint, and the rule of law	Not Conservatism
Moral display without action	Ask what a stance cost, starting with your own	Virtue Signaling

Living

Avoid	Practice	Where
Expecting good things	Notice them, since nothing is owed	Personal Growth
Arguing politics at every turn	Joke most of the time, and keep political talk thoughtful	Personal Growth
Organizing for its own sake	Organize for the work it frees, big ideas first	Ordenador
Chasing a legacy	Care for posterity	Legacy
Dwelling on the fear of death	Widen your interests beyond the self	Growing Old
Chasing arrival	Keep the direction	Flourishing

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