Steelman / Ideological Turing Test

Overview

The inverse of strawmanning: before rejecting a position, construct its strongest version — stronger than its actual advocates managed, if possible. The test of success is Bryan Caplan's Ideological Turing Test (2011): state the opposing position such that its genuine holders couldn't distinguish you from one of their own. If you can't pass, you don't yet understand what you're rejecting — you're rejecting your own compressed sketch of it, and whatever the sketch dropped is your blind spot.

"Obviously wrong" usually means "compressed until wrong." The lossy compression is yours.

When to Use

• Dismissing an alternative: library, architecture, strategy, interpretation ("Redux is overkill", "they just don't get it")
• Writing decision records / trade-off comparisons (the rejected option deserves its best case on record)
• Any disagreement where the other side contains smart people — the disagreement itself is evidence you're missing their inputs
• Reviewing your own past decision that now looks obviously right

The Procedure