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If you have those skills and are doing it right, it will lead you to change your thinking on things an appreciable amount of the time. Sometimes quite radicall

• SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  But how do you know that that is what you're actually doing? I don't think anyone can be truly objective.
  • Veen 7y ago
    Because there are rules of logic, reasoning, and evidence that are independent of your biases. You have to learn them and become skilled at applying them to sources of information (something that everyone should be learning in school).
    • SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
      So which particular logical heuristics would you apply to determining if a nation was in fact in recession, and what the causes of that recession were? The simple model works when you're dealing with proving that your cat is on fire, it's much harder when the topic gets complicated.
      • empath75 7y ago
        Complicated topics that you know little about should entail a lot of uncertainty and that’s fine. Nobody needs to know everything about everything.
        • SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
          But then how are you supposed to make decision in regards to which political candidate has the best response to the problem?
          • hulahoof 7y ago
            From the information and experiences you have recieved, likely you would vote for the candidate who resonated most with your interpretation of the "truth". Then as a society we apply the wisdom of the crowd.
            • SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
              > with your interpretation of the "truth". And we've come full circle back to bias.
              • ModernMech 7y ago
                I think what you're diligently sussing out here is the HN crowd believes they are perfect rational and logical decision makers but are actually, just as everyone else, driven by their biases.
                • Veen 7y ago
                  I don’t think that’s right. We all make decisions with imperfect knowledge, but there are well-tested ways of improving the quality of those judgements. You seem to be arguing that because we can’t make perfect judgements we are therefore condemned to always make arbitrary judgements based on bias, a sophomoric skepticism that isn’t supported by real-world experiences.
                  • SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
                    My concern is that, because someone BELIEVES they are using logic, education, and intelligence to come to a conclusion they may be just as wrong. "logic, education, and intelligence" is a way of justifying a belief, it's not a way of proving the assumption to be true. It's not a matter of being imperfect in judgement, it's a matter of being willing to accept that we are imperfect, and that, even if you think you're using the perfect method for rationalizing the world, it may not actually be.
                  • 7y ago
  • ska 7y ago
    I see where you are going here, but you have to be careful of false equivalences. You can never fully remove the effect of bias, no matter how hard you try. However, if you genuinely want to you can significantly reduce its impact on your thinking, and thereby make more consistent decisions. Really you only need three things, so it is "easy" but not easy, if you take my meaning. 1) you have to genuinely value and prioritize reducing your biases, knowing this may make for some difficult times for you. 2) you must develop a capability for critical thought (essentially, education though it need not be formal). 3) and most importantly you must do the work. And it is work. Number (2) alone won't do you any good, which is why you see highly educated people who are very biased.