A large portion of my job, and the role I interview for, involves discussing alternatives, taking positions, attacking and defending them. I use hypothetical situations, and defend what I think are incorrect positions, to see how the candidates defend their positions. To me, this is an efficient test of a few things - can they identify the best position, will they resist the bad arguments I put forth to advocate for my bad position, and will they give intelligent and clear arguments to defend their position?
It's a huge part of the job and the idea that I shouldn't test people on it strikes me as absurd. You seem like you're jumping to interpret what I've said negatively.
There's a wonderful mechanism we've invented for this purpose. It's called tenure.
Imagine a candidate who came in and said, "I'm really great at this computer stuff, just trust me!" but refused to show a resume, prior work, to even talk about it.
"Push back, it's fine, trust us!"
This ends up filtering for people who can deal with your bullshit,(as in: have other options) and don't mind doing so. So, good for you, I guess, but you could get better people by fixing your culture and being straight with people.
I don't understand any part of what you've written.
Regarding tenure, I don't understand how that's applicable to hiring new people.
Regarding the imaginary candidate I think this is supporting my point - no? Just like you wouldn't want to trust someone who offered no evidence for their abilities, I want to discern whether people can stand up to arguments and make compelling arguments for their case. In order to get the evidence I put them in a position to stand up to arguments and put arguments forward.
Regarding your thoughts about how this filters people, I think you've summarized it incorrectly. Even if I agreed that asking people to argue against me in an interview was "bullshit" then that wouldn't filter only "for people who can deal with your bullshit,(as in: have other options) and don't mind doing so". Clearly, the people who have no other option would also put up with the tactic, as they have no other option. Thus, the filter, as you put it, filters only people who don't mind putting up with the interview question. This is actually a point in my favor because if the candidate is not comfortable arguing for or against positions in a professional context then they would not be a good fit for the role.
Finally, you suggest "fixing your culture and being straight with people." I think I am being straight with the interviewee. I tell them upfront that if I say anything they disagree with I want them to push back on me, that I think disagreement and debate is positive and sometimes necessary. Again, the role requires disagreeing and pushing back on arguments, often in situations where there is pressure not to, so I think giving friendly encouragement and setting up a hypothetical situation where I will disagree with the candidate is a very reasonable thing to do.
It's a huge part of the job and the idea that I shouldn't test people on it strikes me as absurd. You seem like you're jumping to interpret what I've said negatively.