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Open minded and contributing less to society or closed minded and contributing more. Which is more valuable to society overall? Tough question. It's easy to be

Open minded and contributing less to society or closed minded and contributing more. Which is more valuable to society overall? Tough question. It's easy to be open minded when nothing is at stake. As soon as you have something to protect the game changes drastically. You start eliminating ideas from your head that provide no value. For example, someone who works retail and plays video games and opines on the way the world should work vs someone who works as a nurse raising two kids and doesn't have time to opine and instead just wants to put a conservative in office to lower their taxes. Neither is right or wrong but one has a more measurable external impact.

neilv 3y ago
> It's easy to be open minded when nothing is at stake. As soon as you have something to protect the game changes drastically. This is true, and we should try to be wiser as we learn more about the world, not just flip to a different flavor of simple-minded reactionary.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
I’m confused about your example; who is closed-minded and who is open-minded? (Serious question) I otherwise disagree with the dichotomy in the first paragraph. It seems to me that one might be open-minded and contributory. On the topic of “opining vs. voting”: what’s the difference? Additionally, couldn’t the retail employee go vote and have the same sort of measurable external impact? I guess I’ll attempt to answer the question in the comment: all else being equal, an open-minded person is more valuable to society than a closed-minded one.
andrewjl 3y ago
A curious choice of examples. What about someone who is open minded and as a result builds or invents something new that substantially improves peoples lives?
watwut 3y ago
Considering the debate is about choice of the entertainment, neither close minded nor open minded are contributing anything. That part is about what people do to relax.
rcxdude 3y ago
This is a strange dichotomy to posit, full of stereotypes. I suspect that the reality is that contribution to society and open/closed mindedness is not very strongly correlated, and that the correlation that does exist could well run in the opposite to what you suppose.

neilv 3y ago

> It's easy to be open minded when nothing is at stake. As soon as you have something to protect the game changes drastically. This is true, and we should try to be wiser as we learn more about the world, not just flip to a different flavor of simple-minded reactionary.

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago

I’m confused about your example; who is closed-minded and who is open-minded? (Serious question) I otherwise disagree with the dichotomy in the first paragraph. It seems to me that one might be open-minded and contributory. On the topic of “opining vs. voting”: what’s the difference? Additionally, couldn’t the retail employee go vote and have the same sort of measurable external impact? I guess I’ll attempt to answer the question in the comment: all else being equal, an open-minded person is more valuable to society than a closed-minded one.

andrewjl 3y ago

A curious choice of examples. What about someone who is open minded and as a result builds or invents something new that substantially improves peoples lives?

watwut 3y ago

Considering the debate is about choice of the entertainment, neither close minded nor open minded are contributing anything. That part is about what people do to relax.

rcxdude 3y ago

This is a strange dichotomy to posit, full of stereotypes. I suspect that the reality is that contribution to society and open/closed mindedness is not very strongly correlated, and that the correlation that does exist could well run in the opposite to what you suppose.