[extropy-chat] Changing Other Poster's Minds

[Emlyn]

> That *never* happens in deep political or philosophical discussions
> because (a) emotions are involved (b) positions have been years or
> decades in the making, and contrary information has during all that
> time filtered out, and (c) even when our position is irrevocably
> weakened, we rationalize in order to preserve the integrity of our
> beliefs (i.e. wholeness of them), and in order to avoid losing face.

I believe this occurs when there's no useful evidence for any of the
positions in the subject in question. It's a good indicator that the
entire subject area is essentially content free, and could be safely
ignored until someone discovers something new.

Emlyn