Dumb Enemies

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Taleb today tweeted, "Dumb enemies are a problem as they can be very hard to predict."

They are also very hard to argue with. This week, I had a discussion with a smart fellow with whom I disagreed. Within a couple of emails, we each understood the other's position, even though neither of us had changed our own.

With dumb people, it is not like that. They never get someone else's position, and they always misconstrue any argument that is problematic for their own. In fact, I'll be so bold as to say that that is what being dumb consists in: being so desperate to save one's own position that one mishears everything arguing against it.

Comments

  1. Samson Corwell5:16 PM

    This is true of Major Freedom and Rob Smith, but how is it true of Bob Murphy and Rob? Those two aren't idiots, but they consistently mishear your "statist" arguments (the one's over "private law" being the prime example).

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