I think bets with real stakes can be a good de-escalation procedure! It's easy to fire increasingly heated claims back and forth while there's no concrete consequences, but when there's money on the line you have to back off and figure out what you actually believe, and then also once the bet is made there is less incentive to keep arguing while you wait for resolution.
I think bets with real stakes can be a good de-escalation procedure! It's easy to fire increasingly heated claims back and forth while there's no concrete consequences, but when there's money on the line you have to back off and figure out what you actually believe, and then also once the bet is made there is less incentive to keep arguing while you wait for resolution.