Could you pass an ideological Turing test?
[This article is a transcript of “Could you pass an ideological Turing test?” courtesy of volunteer Ben Tomlin. If you’re interested in volunteering to transcribe more of our content, please complete our volunteer survey.]
(Video also available on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.)
This video is meant for people both for and against abortion. In any kind of debate, whether it’s about abortion or any other subject, you should strive to be able to describe your opposition’s position in a way that they would say, “Yes, that’s what I think.” It doesn’t mean you agree with their perspective; it just means you understand what they’re saying.
If you can’t describe their position in a way that they would say, “Yep, that’s what I think,” then you don’t really understand what they think. If you find that when you describe their position, they keep arguing with you and saying, “No, that’s not what I mean. No, that’s not what I said. No, that’s not what I think,” you might not understand what they think.
We understand what we think of what they think, and we end up describing their positions in terms of our premises and our value systems, and that’s fine; it’s just not the same thing as understanding what they think of what they think.
Theoretically, if you understand the other side’s position well enough, you could pass an ideological Turing test, meaning you could articulate their view so accurately that people would not be able to tell whether you personally hold that view or not.
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