This is great! I once worked at a think-tank-type place where we spent a lot of time refining our ideas through fierce criticism of each other's thinking and writing. Since leaving there, I've found that I miss that intellectual environment. There was a while when I was trying to approach political debates in this spirit but I found almost nobody else who wanted to do it. It's hard to recreate such an environment elsewhere because it's hard to find people who want to put time into it, and who also are prepared to let go of ideas in the face of evidence (or just better ideas). And doing it by yourself, as you point out here, is also really time-intensive and maybe less fun.
This is great! I once worked at a think-tank-type place where we spent a lot of time refining our ideas through fierce criticism of each other's thinking and writing. Since leaving there, I've found that I miss that intellectual environment. There was a while when I was trying to approach political debates in this spirit but I found almost nobody else who wanted to do it. It's hard to recreate such an environment elsewhere because it's hard to find people who want to put time into it, and who also are prepared to let go of ideas in the face of evidence (or just better ideas). And doing it by yourself, as you point out here, is also really time-intensive and maybe less fun.