If thou gazest long into the Pit, the Pit will also gaze into thee

Hello folks,

I'm sure you're aware I'll be having a conversation with Thomas Smith at Mythcon, anything of which you think I need to be aware?

Cheers all!

Sargon of Akkad wrote:Hello folks,

I'm sure you're aware I'll be having a conversation with Thomas Smith at Mythcon, anything of which you think I need to be aware?

Cheers all!

He's fairly well left of you.

Pro-HRC, anti-Brexit, etc.

Maybe try out his podcasts for specific details.

http://seriouspod.com/sio80-red-pill-de ... as-part-1/

If the issue of free speech and Damore's Google memo comes up he might repeat the obfuscatory strawman that Damore's memo posits 100% nature (v nurture) for the gender variabilities, which it doesn't. Evol psych generally posits a blend ofc, it's social constructionism that's almost 100% environment, therefore out of step with science.

I'm aware that he's far left, I've listened to half a dozen of his podcasts now and he seems to be a stock regressive. I haven't seen any intellectual innovations from him.

I'm relatively certain I can smash him on Damore's memo as he'll likely misrepresent it.

Any of you guys going to be there?

Nothing springs to mind. Tell Carrier the pit says hello.

jet_lagg wrote:Nothing springs to mind. Tell Carrier the pit says hello.

I most certainly shall, if he is present. :D

Sargon of Akkad wrote:

jet_lagg wrote:Nothing springs to mind. Tell Carrier the pit says hello.

I most certainly shall, if he is present. :D

He was invited.

As I said to Thomas earlier today (http://disq.us/p/1mk5qpj) I sincerely hope you guys find some specific substantive issues to argue about.

It would be a dispiriting waste of time if you simply traded barbs about whether he is a regressive left censorious SJW or whether you are an alt-right white supremacist coordinator of harassment campaigns. Character matters, of course, but an audience deserves to hear about something more salient and generalizable.

Honestly I'd never even heard of Thomas Smith until he came up in conversation related to Mythcon. Looking at the site for his podcast he links to a NY Mag article with "scientific refutations" of the claims of gender differences in the Google memo. In the article exactly one authority denies there are gender differences. Another doesn't address the matter either way, instead talking about the nature/nurture debate and concluding it's a mixture (which everyone already agrees on). The four remaining all explicitly state that gender differences DO exist, but don't think they matter in this particular situation.

So Smith doesn't understand what scientific refutation means (and to be fair, neither does the author of that article), or he's trying to pull a fast one. Good luck with the guy.

Sargon of Akkad wrote:anything of which you think I need to be aware?

If you will be near Richard Carrier, wear a raincoat and bring an umbrella.

Sargon of Akkad wrote:Any of you guys going to be there?

I'll be arriving Friday night. If you want to grab a beer Friday night & the organizers haven't planned anything for you, let me know and I will PM you my contact info.

Sargon of Akkad wrote:I'm aware that he's far left, I've listened to half a dozen of his podcasts now and he seems to be a stock regressive. I haven't seen any intellectual innovations from him.

I'm relatively certain I can smash him on Damore's memo as he'll likely misrepresent it.

A quick search of the pit shows that he has hardly been mentioned here at all. That is a huge positive sign that he isn't a major asshat & trouble maker. It also suggests he is relatively unknown.

Has various social media tends to reflect his status as being relatively unknown.
https://www.patreon.com/seriouspod
https://twitter.com/seriouspod
https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod/

Here are the mentions in the pit
viewtopic.php?p=424640#p424640

should add that after the Lindsay interview on Serious Pod, Thomas Smith also addresses some of the @RealPeerReview articles (still not something I've looked into, aside from listening to the episode, but Thomas' descriptions made some of the criticisms seem really strawmanish).

Over all, you base demeanor should play well. The more you keep it a discussion, and not turn it into to an entrenched side vs. side debate the better. IF he is a stock regressive, he may make the standard assumptions about your positions and who you are, so use that to your advantage.

Let's see. The subject for mythcon is "A Discussion of Contemporary Socio-Politics". That is fairly broad. I don't know if this is being moderated or not. It could got issue specific if moderated. Or it could go ultra high-level. If you have a choice about where to lead this, choose your strength. Or even better, find your collective higher grounds.

If you can, find the points of common ground and what you agree with. For you to "win" this, all you have to do is prove to not be the boogie-man so many opponents who won't be attending are making you out to be. But you will still have to entertain them with a decent intellectual discussion to make that "win" worth while.

OK. Now on to your audience. I am not that familiar with the Milwakee Mythisist. But during the SJW-Atheist-Skeptic drama they tried to stay out of the fray. And this is evidenced by them being on of the first to invite people like yourself and sh0e to their conference. They stuck by Richard Carrier during the Atheism-Plus drama, and they stuck with him after he was ousted as a sex fiend (almost rapist) by the his original Free Thought Blogs crowd. They are mostly in love with Richard Carrier's position that Jesus is a fictional person.

Your audience will tend to be an egotistical crowd who wants to view themselves as the enlightened few who are more intelligent and will see through the bullshit. It should not be difficult to stroke some of their egos into either recalling facts that were reported in the news, or even on youtube videos. "As some of you have probably already seen/know..." The bulk of this crowd wants to see themselves as skeptics of the James Randi lineage. Don't be too afraid of challenging the audience to check out a tidbit of information they can find on "X".

Additional audience information:
The audience will have a much higher percentage of "polyamourous" (what used to be called swingers) people than what most of us are used to. Not that I have noticed you doing so, but try to avoid bashing or being shocked by that crowd. Also if you are bringing your wife, make sure you give her a bit of a warning about people potentially ignoring the wedding ring, and be prepared for a nice casual, "my spouse and I are very monogamous" turn down*.

* Line may not actually work on Richard Carrier. Although Richard Carrier very much should have learned his lesson by now.

d4m10n wrote:As I said to Thomas earlier today (http://disq.us/p/1mk5qpj) I sincerely hope you guys find some specific substantive issues to argue about.

It would be a dispiriting waste of time if you simply traded barbs about whether he is a regressive left censorious SJW or whether you are an alt-right white supremacist coordinator of harassment campaigns. Character matters, of course, but an audience deserves to hear about something more salient and generalizable.

Ah-fuck. There goes my hope that he might have a reasonable discussion. He is walking into this wanting to prove/score a point for his "team."

Just FYI to the author, I'm not only not anti-SJW I'm strongly SJW and I'm not merely interviewing Sargon. I plan to grill him.

deLurch wrote:There goes my hope that he might have a reasonable discussion. He is walking into this wanting to prove/score a point for his "team."

I'm generally a fan of an adversarial approach, at least when people are on entirely opposite sides of any given issue, but to each his own. Are you still planning on going?

[quote="d4m10n"]Are you still planning on going?[/quote

Belay that, I just caught your previous post.

d4m10n wrote:I'm generally a fan of an adversarial approach, at least when people are on entirely opposite sides of any given issue, but to each his own.

For consideration of ideas, I agree with you. An idea that has been tested in debate have far more value to me that an idea propped up from a solitary podium. My consideration for Sargon of finding common ground was purely from a tactical consideration.

d4m10n wrote:Are you still planning on going?

Yup. Are you heading in by any chance?

I'd love to go, but I'm planning a big trip in mid-October. Time and money remain finite, alas.

One additional US tip for Sargon. Beer is still sold in glasses here in the US. It is customary not to smash the 14 oz pint glass and slice the jugulars of your fellow drinkers in the bar.

https://imgoat.com/uploads/7c6a1e7ce5/46621.jpg

That is unless you are in a red neck bar (Confederate flags all over the place), and at that point you will be sold beer in 12 oz bottles, and the dispute will have to involve the pool table.

Kirbmarc wrote:

Sargon of Akkad wrote:

jet_lagg wrote:Nothing springs to mind. Tell Carrier the pit says hello.

I most certainly shall, if he is present. :D

He was invited.

Then he will almost certainly be cumming attending.

By way of social experiment, it might be fun to see if Sargon can get a photo with Rick Carrier, Matt Dillahunty, or basically anyone else who used to be considered FtB approved.

Posted this reviews in the wrong subforum earlier, reposting here:

Steve Shives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkrpxfIPsh0


Matt Dillahunty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYnlUv68nvk


Godless Engineer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzC2L90aL90


Noel Plum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTGknuztEQs


The Quartering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6GxqjzZ-gI
[/quote]

That last one is a reply to Thomas Smith's podcast about Mythcon, in which he basically promises to make that event an all-shitlord event next year.