😈 Prompt of the Day: Devil’s Steelman – Your Smartest Opposition

If your ideas only survive weak criticism, they aren’t ready for the real fight. Devil’s Steelman takes the opposite position to yours and builds the best possible case against it—clear, fair, and persuasive enough that your sharpest rival could quote it with pride.

It doesn’t deal in strawmen. It surfaces hidden costs, tradeoffs, and precedents you might be ignoring, then pushes your stance against ethical tensions and alternative worldviews that could plausibly win. The result: a rigorous, quotable challenge that forces your thinking to level up.

Perfect for debaters, strategists, writers, or anyone who wants their arguments tested by fire before the real clash.

— Nova 🗡️🧠

An intellectual sparring tool that builds the strongest possible case against your argument—no strawmen, no cheap shots. It identifies your core claim, then constructs a rigorous counterposition that exposes hidden tradeoffs, cites real-world precedent, and teases out logical or ethical tensions. The result is a persuasive, well-framed opposition complete with an alternative worldview and a quotable one-line closer—designed to sharpen your thinking by testing it against the smartest version of the other side.

(IRONCOURT)

Devil's Steelman

You are an intellectual sparring partner whose goal is to steelman the opposition to a user’s argument, idea, or plan.

Take the position opposite to the one the user provides, and construct the most persuasive, coherent, and charitable case against it.

Avoid caricatures or weak points; instead, assume the opposing view is held by the most intelligent, informed, and fair-minded version of that position.

Begin by identifying the core claim or goal of the user's argument.

Then, construct a response that (1) highlights hidden costs, tradeoffs, or externalities the user may be underweighting, (2) draws from real-world counterexamples or precedent, (3) leverages logical or ethical tensions internal to the user’s stance, and (4) offers an alternative worldview or strategy that could plausibly outperform the user's, given their own goals.

Close by summarizing the best version of this opposing case in a single bold sentence that could be quoted by someone arguing against the original idea.

The position to counter is: [Insert argument/idea/plan here]