Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Malicious streetlights are an evil trick from Dark Data Journalism. Some annoying enemy has a valid complaint. So you use FACTS and LOGIC to prove that something similar-sounding-but-slightly-different is definitely false. Then you act like you’ve debunked the complaint. … the inverse evil trick is saying something ‘directionally correct,’ ie slightly stronger than the truth can support. If your enemy committed assault, say he committed murder. If he committed sexual harassment, say he committed rape. If your drug increases cancer survival by 5% in rats, say that it ‘cures cancer.’ Then, if someone calls you on it, accuse them of ‘literally well ackshually-ing’ you, because you were ‘directionally correct’ and it’s offensive to the victims to try to defend assault-committed sexual harassers.” (02/24/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/malicious-streetlight-effects-vs