Where a dispute turns on a word, forbid the word and require both parties to say what they mean, and the dispute frequently dissolves.
Yudkowsky's instruction is to replace the contested term with its content and continue. Arguments about whether a tree falling unheard makes a sound end when sound is replaced by air vibrations or auditory experience, because the parties then agree on both. Where the dispute survives the taboo, it was substantive, which is itself the useful information.
In practice
- A two-hour argument about whether the team is agile ends in a minute once nobody may use the word.
- A disagreement that survives having its central term banned was worth having.
- Standing
- A technique rather than a claim, and one of the few in this tradition that can be applied immediately.
- Subject
- Communication & Media
- Essay
- Rules for speaking, writing and disagreeing