Just looking at the comments here, it’s amazing how many people are falling so far into the “aloofness/disinterestedness ≈ intelligence” trap so as to make argu

Just looking at the comments here, it’s amazing how many people are falling so far into the “aloofness/disinterestedness ≈ intelligence” trap so as to make arguments like “arguing climate change is like arguing between holy books” or “strong conviction means you’re wrong” or “strong conviction means you’re unconvincing.” Disinterestedness is NOT a good proxy for intelligence. It’s a great proxy for fear of being wrong on the Internet though! And low conviction is obviously negatively correlated with convincingness. There are tactics that a high-conviction person ought to use both to mitigate their own blind spots and to meet people where they are, but “have less conviction to convince people” is a laughable idea.