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.

  • 25 Posts
  • 795 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.













  • I’m the same way. I don’t block people I disagree with but my tolerance for assholes is quite low. I block multiple people each day and have been doing so for over a year. When I see a thread about Elon or Trump for example I just go in and find all the most toxic commentors there and block them. Again, not because I disagree but because I don’t want to see incivil assholes in my feed. If I see someone write mean comments I assume that’s what they do and I want nothing to do with them. Currently my blocklist is around 600 users long.