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You will win more friends with a "never correct others" policy. However, what if belief in the misinformation has deadly consequences? Steve Jobs died due to hi

You will win more friends with a "never correct others" policy. However, what if belief in the misinformation has deadly consequences? Steve Jobs died due to him seeking "alternative" cancer treatment. Had someone convincing spoken up when acupuncture was being discussed around him, someone who changed his mind into recognizing that acupuncture is a sham, Jobs might still be alive.

sigstoat 5y ago
> You will win more friends with a "never correct others" policy. However, what if belief in the misinformation has deadly consequences? where do you think the line should be drawn? dying is pretty clearly terrible. what if someone is going to invest all of their money in a ponzi scheme? or put 50% of their savings into GME? or invest in a high expense ratio index fund? we've got to ignore some mistakes and errors on the part of others.
- exo-pla-net 5y ago
  I'm glad you've decided to let me arbitrate this matter. Here is my official misinformation heuristic, three questions to ask oneself before acting: 1) Is this misinformation likely to convince and harm a great number of people? 2) Could belief in this misinformation result in severe health or emotional damage, for a single person or more who believe it? 3) If yes to either, are you an expert on the issue, relative to the person or group making the claim? If you're indeed an expert, try to save the person or people from their downfall. If you're not an expert, read up on the issue before meddling. God forbid it's you who is wrong. And, of course, if no significant harm is likely, ignore it.
muffinman26 5y ago
How To Win Friends and Influence People doesn't actually advocate never trying to convince people of an opposing viewpoint. Carnegie argues that you'll never be able to convince people of something by correcting them directly, but that you can persuade people if you express genuine interest in their opinion, listen well, ask questions, and allow the other person to save face by presenting the correction as something they came to on their own. Whereas, if you correct someone directly, no matter how solid your facts, they are more likely to feel attacked and double down.

sigstoat 5y ago

> You will win more friends with a "never correct others" policy. However, what if belief in the misinformation has deadly consequences? where do you think the line should be drawn? dying is pretty clearly terrible. what if someone is going to invest all of their money in a ponzi scheme? or put 50% of their savings into GME? or invest in a high expense ratio index fund? we've got to ignore some mistakes and errors on the part of others.

exo-pla-net 5y ago
I'm glad you've decided to let me arbitrate this matter. Here is my official misinformation heuristic, three questions to ask oneself before acting: 1) Is this misinformation likely to convince and harm a great number of people? 2) Could belief in this misinformation result in severe health or emotional damage, for a single person or more who believe it? 3) If yes to either, are you an expert on the issue, relative to the person or group making the claim? If you're indeed an expert, try to save the person or people from their downfall. If you're not an expert, read up on the issue before meddling. God forbid it's you who is wrong. And, of course, if no significant harm is likely, ignore it.

muffinman26 5y ago

How To Win Friends and Influence People doesn't actually advocate never trying to convince people of an opposing viewpoint. Carnegie argues that you'll never be able to convince people of something by correcting them directly, but that you can persuade people if you express genuine interest in their opinion, listen well, ask questions, and allow the other person to save face by presenting the correction as something they came to on their own. Whereas, if you correct someone directly, no matter how solid your facts, they are more likely to feel attacked and double down.