Summary

A short note by Cheng-Wei Hu arguing that when you want to challenge your own views, you should seek out the best representative of the opposing side — not random Twitter replies. The principle: don’t read garbage, find the strongest version of the argument you disagree with.

提醒我們尋求不同觀點時,應找到對立方最強的論述者,而非 Twitter 上的隨機意見。不讀垃圾,找最強的反論。

Key Points

  • The core rule: to get a genuinely different perspective, find the best person making that argument — not a random person on social media
  • Implicit corollary: most online discourse is noise; the signal lives in long-form, curated arguments from domain experts
  • Application: before dismissing a position, read its strongest defense first

Insights

This is essentially the principle of “steelmanning” — representing an opposing view in its strongest form before critiquing it — but applied to media consumption rather than debate. The constraint “don’t read garbage” is doing a lot of work: it rules out social media as a source for intellectual challenge, pushing toward books, papers, and serious essays.

The note is brief but the implication is significant for information diet: following contrarians or critics on social media for “opposing views” is mostly theater, not genuine intellectual challenge.

Connections

Raw Excerpt

You should look up what the best person on the other side says, not a random person on Twitter. Don’t read garbage.