Independent thinker valuing discussions grounded in reason, not emotions.

Open to reconsider my views in light of good-faith counter-arguments but also willing to defend what’s right, even when it’s unpopular. My goal is to engage in dialogue that seeks truth rather than scoring points.

  • 8 Posts
  • 204 Comments
Joined 3 months ago
cake
Cake day: August 25th, 2024

help-circle

  • Of course, it’s okay. Being able to say “I don’t know” is a sign of intelligence in itself.

    A huge number of people form opinions based on very limited knowledge, but these opinions then become part of their identity, and they feel compelled to defend them tooth and nail. I think the middle ground here is the idea of “strong opinions, loosely held,” meaning you have an opinion, but you understand it’s based on the best knowledge available at the time. You leave room for new information and allow your opinion to evolve. In fact, most opinions probably should be like that. There are very few views I hold that I feel are almost guaranteed not to change.

    The Dunning-Kruger effect plays a big role here. When someone gains a moderate amount of knowledge on a subject, they often feel like they have a good understanding of it. But as they keep learning, they realize just how little they actually know. Uninformed people, by contrast, don’t know what they don’t know. These are the ones who write comments on social media pretending they’ve solved complex issues with simplistic solutions like “just do X,” while completely ignoring all the nuance. When you then try to introduce that nuance, they dig their heels in, taking it as a personal attack rather than a critique of their idea. This happens because they didn’t leave room for new information - they locked in their opinion, made it part of their identity, and threw away the key.










  • It starts by being the best feeling in the world and then you just slowly get used to it and it becomes quite mundane. Some people intrepret the honey moon period ending as the amount of love decreasing but in reality it just changes. This happens to everyone. Also, the first time is usually the best feeling one, especially in the beginning, while probably not objectively best of all the relationships you’re going to have.