Modern Wisdom #122 - Buster Benson - How To Argue With Someone
11 snips
Nov 25, 2019 Buster Benson, entrepreneur and author of "Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreement," shares insights on navigating conflicts. He discusses strategies for effective communication, emphasizing the need for rationality and empathy. Buster introduces eight practices for constructive arguing and highlights the technique of 'steel manning'—presenting the strongest version of opposing views. The conversation tackles the challenges of engaging in meaningful discussions in today's polarized environment and advocates for curiosity and open-mindedness.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Internal Voices
- Recognize your internal voices: power (forcing your view), logic (using reason), and avoidance (escaping the conversation).
- Understand when each voice is appropriate; avoidance often leads to frustration from unmet desires for effectiveness.
Honest Bias
- Focus on addressing the harmful effects of bias rather than diagnosing individuals as biased.
- Fixing tangible damage is more productive than labeling people, fostering collaboration and understanding.
Bias as a Game
- As a product manager at Twitter, Buster and his colleagues focused on identifying biases in others' arguments.
- This became a game, highlighting the potential for bias identification to become unproductive.
