4 ms·

This is a smart people trap: that "thinking" is what makes some people right and other people wrong. The practical reality is that nobody today can develop a s

This is a smart people trap: that "thinking" is what makes some people right and other people wrong. The practical reality is that nobody today can develop a sufficient depth of knowledge in more than a couple of niche subjects at best to be "right" about them at anything other than the most superficial of levels. Somebody might read a book, or several books, or several books and some blogs about a subject, or even take one or several courses in it, but that doesn't mean they know it. They know some things about it, and some of the things they think they know about it will be wrong. Maybe part of the disagreement here that isn't being addressed is the difference between ideas (or facts) and principles. My principles have changed very little over the years, and so the direction of my ideas haven't either. But my ideas change frequently because there are only a few subjects about which I know anything and I am a moron in the rest. edit: and even in those couple of subjects where I might claim some expertise, I'm wrong frustratingly often.

MAGZine 3y ago
there's a vast difference between only knowing a bit and applying a little thought and only knowing a bit and not applying any thought. Without thought/consideration, you can hold an obviously incorrect position for quite some time before someone else bothers to correct you, or until you discover the other information. So, just because you _might_ be wrong, is not an excuse for not applying careful thought to all topics. This is especially true for 'strong opinions loosely held' people who seem to think that loosely holding an opinion is a replacement for putting even a modicum of thought into any given topic. It's not. You hold obviously wrong opinions and rely on people to correct you.
- thaumaturgy 3y ago
  Well, sure. I hope the takeaway wasn't "don't bother thinking". Rather, it should have been: remember that no matter how much you think about something, you could still be wrong, so forgive others their wrongness too.
  - srinivgp 3y ago
    Only if they actually tried to think. Otherwise they don't get automatic passes for believing random things just because I am not 100% guaranteed to end up believing a correct thing.
fullshark 3y ago
I think this is a relatively new situation, with the information age. Previously a lot of bad decisions were made from pure ignorance and "thinking" aka "people with good recall" made a lot of people right and others wrong.
deleted 3y ago
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mrangle 3y ago
delete

MAGZine 3y ago

there's a vast difference between only knowing a bit and applying a little thought and only knowing a bit and not applying any thought. Without thought/consideration, you can hold an obviously incorrect position for quite some time before someone else bothers to correct you, or until you discover the other information. So, just because you _might_ be wrong, is not an excuse for not applying careful thought to all topics. This is especially true for 'strong opinions loosely held' people who seem to think that loosely holding an opinion is a replacement for putting even a modicum of thought into any given topic. It's not. You hold obviously wrong opinions and rely on people to correct you.

thaumaturgy 3y ago
Well, sure. I hope the takeaway wasn't "don't bother thinking". Rather, it should have been: remember that no matter how much you think about something, you could still be wrong, so forgive others their wrongness too.
- srinivgp 3y ago
  Only if they actually tried to think. Otherwise they don't get automatic passes for believing random things just because I am not 100% guaranteed to end up believing a correct thing.

fullshark 3y ago

I think this is a relatively new situation, with the information age. Previously a lot of bad decisions were made from pure ignorance and "thinking" aka "people with good recall" made a lot of people right and others wrong.

deleted 3y ago

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mrangle 3y ago

delete