"Corollaries of this principle:<p>" * To argue against an idea honestly, you should argue against the best arguments of the strongest advocates. Arguing against weaker advocates proves nothing, because even the strongest idea will attract weak advocates."<p>This reminds me of a plea I made to HN participants<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=555734" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=555734</a><p>to avoid ad-hominem arguments against controversial claims when facts are available to refute the claim without reference to who supports the claim. Sometimes people with mostly bad ideas have a correct opinion or two.
The "reversed stupidity is not intelligence" principle and its corollaries are all true, but only trivially so. In fact, many good ideas and opportunities can be found simply by reversing what stupid people are doing (intelligent people, even). Stupidity is more than falsehood. It's a certain kind of attunement to the world: conformist, short-sighted, demanding. By seeking it out and "reversing" it, you can often find new and fruitful directions to explore.<p>Here is a down-home example. I have a couple friends who occasionally give me advice. For them, it's probably good advice. But not for me. One day, it occurred to me to always do the opposite of whatever they said. Wonderful results! I would never have thought of some of these things without their advice.<p>Does this mean to run headlong against everything you hear? Of course not. That would be stupid.