John Dickerson

John Dickerson is co-anchor of "CBS Evening News" and anchor of "CBS Evening News Plus." He is also a Contributing Writer to The Atlantic and is co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.

  • 07/13/2024: Asking ChatGPT for ways to engage in conversation.

    Is this the right way to write this query?
    Q: Someone is making a point to me with which I disagree, but I might be wrong and miss a chance to learn something. They are members of the human race, so I owe them grace and no motive-questioning at the start, but I don’t want to be snookered, and sometimes I might engage in conversations where people who participate in them act in bad faith for political, ego and attention-grabbing reasons. My patience, concentration and energy are not limitless. Time spent in an unproductive exchange has an opportunity cost. Please create a list of short instructions (please don’t go on) for how I should interpret their argument and maintain maximum humanity while at the same time exhibiting efficient critical thinking which would prompt me to duck out if the exchange has become stale or toxic. Please provide guidance for identifying such sour turns.
    ChatGPT
    1. Absolutely, John. Here’s a concise guide for interpreting arguments with both humanity and critical thinking:
      1. Listen Completely: Ensure you fully understand their argument before reacting.
      2. Clarify and Probe: Ask for details and examples to better grasp their points.
      3. Stay Open: Keep an open mind and avoid premature judgment.
      4. Maintain Respect: Engage politely and keep a calm tone.
      5. Assess Evidence: Critically evaluate the validity and sources of their claims.
      6. Focus on Arguments, Not People: Address the ideas, not the individual’s character.
      7. Spot Fallacies: Be alert for logical errors in their reasoning.
      8. Separate Emotion from Logic: Identify whether the argument relies on emotional appeals or facts.
      9. Delay Motive Analysis: Concentrate on the argument’s content before considering potential motives.
      10. Monitor Time: Be mindful of the conversation’s duration to avoid unproductive exchanges.
      11. Identify Sour Turns:
        • Repetition: The same points are being rehashed without new information.
        • Ad Hominem Attacks: The discussion shifts to personal attacks.
        • Straw Man Arguments: Misrepresenting your position to refute it easily.
        • Red Herrings: Introducing irrelevant topics to divert from the main issue.
        • Hostility: The tone becomes aggressive or disrespectful.
      12. Exit Gracefully: Politely end the conversation if it becomes repetitive, personal, or unproductive.

      This approach ensures a balanced, respectful, and efficient engagement while recognizing when to step away from a futile discussion.

    • More Notions

  • 03/14/2023: T.R. Barista

    Another important contribution to history: presidents as wrestlers. Or, in Teddy Roosevelt’s case, a Brooklyn barista.

  • 03/14/2023: Essay for our 3/13/23 Show

    How it started: How it wound up: View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Prime Time with John Dickerson (@dickersonprimetime)

  • 03/14/2023: Tricky balance for presidents in a bank panic

    Usually, I’d just post this to the Twitter thread connecting public events to the book The Hardest Job in the World, but this passage is too big:

  • 03/07/2023: Quiet Hired

    Quiet hired seems like a good new term for an old thing. That’s distinct from fad expressions to name things that don’t exist or that have existed forever but aren’t illuminated by the new phrase. A wave of the Quiet Hired might lead to a Quiet Riot.

  • 03/07/2023: Getting off your Phone is just the first step

    Thank you to The Dispatch for the link to this article by Rhiannon Williams in MIT Review: “The problem isn’t necessarily the amount of time you’re spending scrolling on the phone as much as what you’re looking at.” The piece touches on something I wrote about in this piece for The Atlantic, which is about […]

  • 03/04/2023: Happy Birthday Time Magazine

    Time magazine celebrated its 100th birthday on March 3rd. We’re coming up on the 30th anniversary of my first professional byline on March 22, 1993. Tanks to Joelle Attinger, John Stacks, Sam Gwynne, Jonathan Beaty and Jill Smolowe for that first shot: It was not for a few months that I’d get a top byline […]

  • 03/04/2023: The Calvin Coolidge Colonic

  • 03/03/2023: Runaway Presidency

    When you are president, things can get out of hand: This is from Jimmy Carter’s White House diary. It demonstrates something about Carter but also the benefit of a presidential retreat where a president can have a minor mishap like this and it won’t get blown out of proportion by the press. Think it wouldn’t? […]

  • 03/02/2023: AI Rendering of Presidents with Mullets

    This Twitter thread of presidents with mullets is hit or miss, but reminds that LBJ essentially grew a mullet at the end of his life: It kinda came to that: https://t.co/qoZwjxBF4i pic.twitter.com/vRCsu57Zgz — John Dickerson (@jdickerson) March 2, 2023  

  • 03/02/2023: The Most Rarefied Presidential List

    The ranking of presidents provides hours of enjoyment for professionals and hobbyists alike. This ranking is perhaps the greatest of all: “…soon, remains of George Washington, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower will join the DNA and cremated remains of many of the people who worked on Star Trek and be blasted into […]