Beware brittle arguments

Abstract

Many arguments suggest that various trends are universally positive, whereas some suggest they are negative. For example, while economic growth often improves people’s lives, it could also increase meat consumption or accidents. Despite this, the paper argues that such counterarguments are usually weak, because they rely on multiple uncertain propositions and focus on specific drawbacks, while ignoring the overall positive effects. The paper also contends that positive developments often facilitate one another, so the impact of individual changes is closer to their average effect. Thus, the paper concludes that such counterarguments lack sufficient weight to overturn the general positive trend – AI-generated abstract.