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This is more like a list of ways to be a swell guy than ways to be intellectually honest. I know lots of brilliant assholes whom this wouldn't fit for.

by wheels 18y ago

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
walterk 18y ago
I don't really like the article's emphasis on the appearance of being intellectually honest, rather than intellectual honesty itself, but the latter is more or less an inward version of the outward former. And there's certainly no reason why a brilliant asshole can't be intellectually dishonest. One can be right without being intellectually honest, just as one can be wrong while being intellectually honest. One can also be brilliant without being right, and one can be brilliant in a particular domain, but not in others. But as a general rule of thumb, intellectual honesty is the best policy.
yters 18y ago
Yeah, I don't know why being intellectually honest means one's ideas are accessible to everyone or implies the admission that there are other equally valid ideas. Emphasizing this seems more a recipe for intellectual tepidity and vapidity than honesty. If someone is really sold on an idea, I think it is more effective if they pursue it full heartedly. If someone else disagrees, it is up to them to develop an effective counter argument. Yes, if a whole area is of interest to me, then it is useful to investigate all the relevant ideas. Otherwise, I don't see why this is important. It isn't very efficient for everyone to address everything. There are just way too many possible alternatives to consider all of them. As an analogy, we all know software that packs everything but the kitchen sink isn't usually very good. The Unix philosophy is special tools for special purposes. For instance, I want very biased news sources, from multiple biases, instead of all sources trying to cover all angles all the time. Leave it up to me to sort out the overall picture, or just focus on one view if it seems to be the most relevant.
lsc 18y ago
no, it has nothing to do with being a 'nice guy' - it is about being direct and honest. I know several brilliant people who are completely confident even in areas where they know nothing. The problem with this is that for me to use that brilliant but intellectually dishonest guy, I need to have a good idea of what he knows and what he doesn't. This one guy I know is a brilliant computer scientist, or at least, he's much better than I am. He's not going to deliberately mislead me, but once he gets an idea in his head, to him, that idea is truth - this is fine when you ask him stuff he knows. You get the right answers, and aggressive rhetoric to back it up. He's a great counterweight to salesguys, 'cause he can talk the boss into doing the right thing. However, if you ask him about something he knows nothing about, he will back up his uninformed opinions and half-baked theories with rhetoric that is just as strong. With someone who is intellectually honest, I can ask advice on a wide variety of subjects, and even if I know nothing of the subject in question, I can figure out how much my intellectually honest adviser knows about the subject in question, as well as what he thinks I should do. I also know people who are assholes who are also intellectually honest. Really, any kind of honesty requires being at least a little bit of an asshole.

This is more like a list of ways to be a swell guy than ways to be intellectually honest. I know lots of brilliant assholes whom this wouldn't fit for.

by wheels 18y ago

This is more like a list of ways to be a swell guy than ways to be intellectually honest. I know lots of brilliant assholes whom this wouldn't fit for.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

walterk 18y ago

I don't really like the article's emphasis on the appearance of being intellectually honest, rather than intellectual honesty itself, but the latter is more or less an inward version of the outward former. And there's certainly no reason why a brilliant asshole can't be intellectually dishonest. One can be right without being intellectually honest, just as one can be wrong while being intellectually honest. One can also be brilliant without being right, and one can be brilliant in a particular domain, but not in others. But as a general rule of thumb, intellectual honesty is the best policy.

yters 18y ago

Yeah, I don't know why being intellectually honest means one's ideas are accessible to everyone or implies the admission that there are other equally valid ideas. Emphasizing this seems more a recipe for intellectual tepidity and vapidity than honesty. If someone is really sold on an idea, I think it is more effective if they pursue it full heartedly. If someone else disagrees, it is up to them to develop an effective counter argument. Yes, if a whole area is of interest to me, then it is useful to investigate all the relevant ideas. Otherwise, I don't see why this is important. It isn't very efficient for everyone to address everything. There are just way too many possible alternatives to consider all of them. As an analogy, we all know software that packs everything but the kitchen sink isn't usually very good. The Unix philosophy is special tools for special purposes. For instance, I want very biased news sources, from multiple biases, instead of all sources trying to cover all angles all the time. Leave it up to me to sort out the overall picture, or just focus on one view if it seems to be the most relevant.

lsc 18y ago

no, it has nothing to do with being a 'nice guy' - it is about being direct and honest. I know several brilliant people who are completely confident even in areas where they know nothing. The problem with this is that for me to use that brilliant but intellectually dishonest guy, I need to have a good idea of what he knows and what he doesn't. This one guy I know is a brilliant computer scientist, or at least, he's much better than I am. He's not going to deliberately mislead me, but once he gets an idea in his head, to him, that idea is truth - this is fine when you ask him stuff he knows. You get the right answers, and aggressive rhetoric to back it up. He's a great counterweight to salesguys, 'cause he can talk the boss into doing the right thing. However, if you ask him about something he knows nothing about, he will back up his uninformed opinions and half-baked theories with rhetoric that is just as strong. With someone who is intellectually honest, I can ask advice on a wide variety of subjects, and even if I know nothing of the subject in question, I can figure out how much my intellectually honest adviser knows about the subject in question, as well as what he thinks I should do. I also know people who are assholes who are also intellectually honest. Really, any kind of honesty requires being at least a little bit of an asshole.