Good Conversation

August 24, 2005 8:04 PM

The participants in this thread (about the board game Arimaa) engaged in a long discussion about matters on which they tended to strongly disagree. Nonetheless, the discussion was almost universally polite and respectful, and took things to a level far beyond the premise of the original post. It's not every day you can watch people turn a chat about a child's game into a debate on the nature of intelligence and consciousness, or discuss such controversial issues without things degenerating into a slagging match. Kudos.
posted by obiwanwasabi to Etiquette/Policy at 8:04 PM (11 comments total)

That thread made my head hurt really bad - which is a good thing. It was one of those threads where I felt like a puppy on a porch want to come play with the big dogs. But I knew I'd be so out of my element that I just said "forget it". Some pretty intense and stimulating debate which to me, is why Metafilter is so cool most of the time.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:48 PM on August 24, 2005

...of course it was civil. None of the cool MeFites posted to it.
posted by wendell at 9:03 PM on August 24, 2005

That thread needs a little Bevets action.
posted by wakko at 9:09 PM on August 24, 2005

If you make your discussion boring enough, then the trolls will avoid it.
posted by euphorb at 9:37 PM on August 24, 2005

I'll kill them all but I want half the money up front.
posted by fleacircus at 9:58 PM on August 24, 2005

$250?
posted by wakko at 11:07 PM on August 24, 2005

Thanks for pointing this out, I completely missed it.

Plus, KirkJobSluder has brilliantly, and in my mind correctly, put forward his argument. Only decent responses to his points made this happen, and that's very impressive.
posted by gsb at 11:51 PM on August 24, 2005

Good call obiwanwasabi. Excellent discussion. But I'll play with KevinSkomsvold on the front porch. Less embarrassing that way.
posted by peacay at 1:54 AM on August 25, 2005

Yes, it was a wonderful thread. Various posters took on the roles of the major lines of thought in AI and cognitive science at various times. It was like watching a reenactment of the modern history of the philosophy of mind.
posted by voltairemodern at 7:18 AM on August 25, 2005

That thread needs a little Bevets action.

Every thread needs a little Bevets action.
posted by voltairemodern at 7:20 AM on August 25, 2005

Heh. I thought about posting the same MeTa thread here, but I didn't want it to seem like I was gloating over my thread when I had so little to do with why it was interesting.
posted by klangklangston at 7:41 AM on August 25, 2005