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How to Think for Yourself

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Think for Yourself

#51

Post by randomsearch »

dijit wrote: post #39

So, I might have a controversial opinion here. My mother raised me to think for myself, it was a heavy emphasis of my upbringing and important for her. However I'm now in situations where the world is divided and asking questions (in order to make my own mind up) is considered some kind of admission of guilt for being part of the "other". For example: Asking someone why they think immigration is good/bad. If it's a b…

Find people you can be honest with and have those conversations. There aren’t many. Then sugarcoat for the narrow minded people. There are many.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#53

Post by amadeuspagel »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #25

Mark Twain said, whenever you find yourself siding with the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. I have found this saying to serve me well enough to memorize it. I think the reason is that by the time an opinion has propagated to the majority, it is already outdated, and several years (sometimes decades) behind the newest available knowledge.

This is a funny line, but the majority is clearly right on most questions, such as the color of the sky, the shape of the earth, etc..

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#54

Post by username90 »

interactivecode wrote: post #19

While I agree holding your own views and opinions help with doing something novel and different. I do feel like articles like this are mostly used to cover up and excuse hostility, bad work environments and Jobs esque management styles. You can have groundbreaking ideas without "disrupting" every single part of your work life. Assuming large groups of people can't think for themselves is both short sighted and insult…

> Assuming large groups of people can't think for themselves is both short sighted and insulting.

But it is mostly true, at least in management positions. Independent-minded people by definition question authority so they are mostly relegated to low status positions. If you don't question authority then you aren't independent-minded. And no, questioning some authority figure just because some other authority figure told you to doesn't count.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#55

Post by hemantv »

interactivecode wrote: post #19

While I agree holding your own views and opinions help with doing something novel and different. I do feel like articles like this are mostly used to cover up and excuse hostility, bad work environments and Jobs esque management styles. You can have groundbreaking ideas without "disrupting" every single part of your work life. Assuming large groups of people can't think for themselves is both short sighted and insult…

If you care to think for yourself enough you will try to get out of situations where you can't think for yourself.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#56

Post by User23 »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #25

Mark Twain said, whenever you find yourself siding with the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. I have found this saying to serve me well enough to memorize it. I think the reason is that by the time an opinion has propagated to the majority, it is already outdated, and several years (sometimes decades) behind the newest available knowledge.

The opinion of the majority is inevitably whatever their chosen source of media assigns them[1]. This is easily seen in the disparity between subjects where a persuasion campaign is in effect vs the ones where one isn’t. In the latter case persons will have a naturally broad distribution of opinions while in the former you will see near unanimity within their persuasion bubble.

Naturally this makes discussing the assigned opinions extremely boring, because it’s entirely predictable and worse yet at a 6th grade level at best.

[1] In the USA this means the distribution of opinions among the general population is bimodal.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#57

Post by emiliobumachar »

bambax wrote: post #24

It is surely a mere coincidence that every time PG makes up some category of elite people he finds himself right in the middle of it.

Nope. Counterproof:

http://paulgraham.com/good.html

"When you write something telling people to be good, you seem to be claiming to be good yourself. So I want to say explicitly that I am not a particularly good person. When I was a kid I was firmly in the camp of bad."

Having read and forgotten most of his essays over years, I could recall this in a minute. So probably there's more.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#58

Post by forgotmypw17 »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #53
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #25

Mark Twain said, whenever you find yourself siding with the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. I have found this saying to serve me well enough to memorize it. I think the reason is that by the time an opinion has propagated to the majority, it is already outdated, and several years (sometimes decades) behind the newest available knowledge.

This is a funny line, but the majority is clearly right on most questions, such as the color of the sky, the shape of the earth, etc..

>the majority is clearly right on most questions

This is exactly the idea which the statement counteracts.

You're trusting the majority opinion because it is the majority.

Yet it is not always right, and you can give yourself a huge advantage by questioning it for yourself.

... or you can continue being a follower of majority opinion.

The choice is up to you.

By the way, the majority opinion has been wrong about the shape of the earth before.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#59

Post by rzodkiew »

I believe that the independent-mindedness actually has some sort of biological underpinning. Original thought requires more energy expenditure (to push against entropy) than simply copying someone else's thinking.

So my hypothesis is that if your body is better at providing energy to the brain and not "wasting" it on other energy sinks around your body, you'll be better at independent thinking (and also intelligence, since it also boosts your ability to create models).

But that's just my totally unproven and anecdotal hypothesis, although I guess it might be worth checking out scientifically.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#60

Post by forgotmypw17 »

User23 wrote: post #56
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #25

Mark Twain said, whenever you find yourself siding with the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. I have found this saying to serve me well enough to memorize it. I think the reason is that by the time an opinion has propagated to the majority, it is already outdated, and several years (sometimes decades) behind the newest available knowledge.

The opinion of the majority is inevitably whatever their chosen source of media assigns them[1]. This is easily seen in the disparity between subjects where a persuasion campaign is in effect vs the ones where one isn’t. In the latter case persons will have a naturally broad distribution of opinions while in the former you will see near unanimity within their persuasion bubble. Naturally this makes discussing the ass…

Yes.

I'm not necessarily promoting arguing against majority opinion, only thinking for yourself and deciding what you think, and acting accordingly.

Arguing against majority opinion is usually a futile and unprofitable endeavor.

Knowing that it is wrong can literally save your life at times.

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