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LightOnlyComesFromHeat  2yr ago (text post)   2553 thread views

Light Only Comes From Heat

The phrase "light only comes from heat" sounds so judicious. Who wouldn't want a pleasant, decorous argument where everyone respects everyone, no one's feelings are hurt, and plenty of light is generate, but no nasty heat.

Yet, if you think about it, where else does light come from but heat? Things that are very cold give off no light, yet everything that emits light will also be hot. If you don't like heat, you've no desire for light. If you want light, you musk risk heat.

Speaking from my own experience, it is the forceful, honest and clear arguments that have persuaded me, or have at the very least lodged the seed of doubt in my own mind, not those who argue by endlessly trying to flatter me, or search for middle ground, or who pretend to respect my argument more than they actually do.

All truth seekers should expunge this silly cliche from their vocabulary.

I end with the immortal words of John Milton:

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat

-15
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Have you read the linked article where the phrase comes from?

https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/03/framing-for-light-instead-of-heat/

‘Light only comes from heat’ isn’t a Scott Alexander original… Has been around for a long time.

But that’s what the phrase “optimize for light, not heat” is referencing in the sidebar. That’s why it’s linked there.

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