If we're talking about social issues, easy... Study social philosophy. Will drive all your convictions to the ground really fast.
Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
81–90 of 118 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#82If it is your area of expertise (actual expertise not “I read a bunch about it”) then I’d expect you to have strong opinions. Linus Torvalds without strong opinions on C would be really weird. If it is not your area of expertise don’t have strong opinions as they’d likely be wrong. This has interesting implications for politics.
This is 80% a very good point; for the other 20%, I think sometimes about how experts in my field will still disagree, vehemently, about stuff in the field, and seemingly show all the same biases -- they're defending territory, they're viciously contesting for status, vs trying to get closer to "the truth" through the scientific method. No one is immune, so whatever wisdom the OP gains on this quest will still be use…
Yeah, expert disagreement does occur (we can see it in real time on HN itself) and often it boils down to "I don't want to do more work" or "that is better but the cost/benefit isn't there".
But even then it's better than uninformed arm-chair quarterbacking. And for those watching from the sidelines, if you watch long enough, you start to get a "feel" for the various sides.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#83Learn to pause your train of thought and say, "I don't know, what do others think?"
I find myself sometimes realising that I am talking a lot about something and then I wonder how it must come across. e.g. "The only proper way to do this is with microservices, this other idea seems to be doomed to fail....I don't know, what do others think?"
Works wonders and helps you to realise something that you might not have thought about without sounding like a dickhead.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#84First of all, what's the motivation for being opinionated: e.g. to seem knowledgeable and advance in position, or to develop deeper understanding of topics? What about opinions on breadth of topics: focused or broad? Not having an opinion doesn't mean lack of capability but could be lack of interest or relevance.
The only thing you really have to be aware of is having strong opinions strongly held without deep understanding or allowing your mind to be changed. Don't identify with your opinions--new information leads to new assessment and reformulated opinions.
"When my information changes, I change my mind. What do you do?" -- Keynes
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#85Great question - I've struggled with the opposite, not being opinionated 'enough'. I've noticed I tend to have more faith in other people's convictions than my own, assuming, essentially, if they believe in something, there must be a great reason behind it My own opinions tend to be weakly expressed & weakly held. It's usually been good, allowing me to listen and understand others. However, growing in career, I feel…
I don't have much to contribute to your post but I feel a lot of these struggles in my life. With opinions relating to technology I think most of it comes to me not having an industry experience (still in university). With topics such as politics or history sometimes I feel I can't have an opinion unless I've read a book or done very extensive research on a topic or field. I've recently tried to use your second point of lowering the bar of what constitutes a good strong opinion, but like you said it depends a lot on the situation and audience.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#86Listen before speaking. Be willing to let another person change your opinion. If you're only here to enforce your opinion, then don't talk about the topic. This is why religion and politics are usually not welcome in most parts. There was an opinionated conversation on anarchy philosophy a few weeks ago on front page HN. Most of the comments came from people who obviously did not open the link at all. Some from peopl…
> This is why religion and politics are usually not welcome in most parts. This is a very "American" view. Plenty of folks manage to have conversations about these topics in a respectful way - and yes, that includes conversations with strangers and in the workplace too. I don't know why they're so polarising in some contexts, as if everyone has to maintain complete loyalty to their "sports team" and has no time for a…
I've always been interested in differing experiences with discussing politics and religion especially outside of talks with close friends and loved ones. Outside of that it's almost always uncomfortable.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#87Great question - I've struggled with the opposite, not being opinionated 'enough'. I've noticed I tend to have more faith in other people's convictions than my own, assuming, essentially, if they believe in something, there must be a great reason behind it My own opinions tend to be weakly expressed & weakly held. It's usually been good, allowing me to listen and understand others. However, growing in career, I feel…
Same here, I'm aligned with what you describe.
There are some exceptions, though (tabs are evil, etc…) where I have a strong opinion, and sometimes I fantasize about strongly holding it. I am conscious about letting any of those pet peeves become anything bigger.
As of late, I make an effort to evaluate the person in front of me and decide, case by case, if they have enough self-doubt about themselves. Many times it reflects back on my own self-doubt and helps me gauge it.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#88Great question - I've struggled with the opposite, not being opinionated 'enough'. I've noticed I tend to have more faith in other people's convictions than my own, assuming, essentially, if they believe in something, there must be a great reason behind it My own opinions tend to be weakly expressed & weakly held. It's usually been good, allowing me to listen and understand others. However, growing in career, I feel…
i think some people have a "strong will to dominate", it has nothing to do with how much thought they put into their opinions (although putting down thought does help a lot), i think it just a psychological/physical phenomenon (a function of ego, pride, hubris, wanting to be the center of attention etc...) . Throughout my life, i saw myself as an individual on a journey to fulfill my curiosity, whenever circumstances…
It's true that some people want to dominate others regardless what course of action would give the best outcome. I don't think the modern knowledge economy—especially Tech—is particularly rewarding for these folks though. Modern civilization is so complex that real expertise is required to drive meaningful impact. Of course there are still domains like politics where charisma and force-of-will are the primary factors, but I think there's more opportunity for those without those qualities than ever before.
On the other hand, being thoughtful and competent, but conflict-avoidant, is also potentially career limiting. I say potentially because you can still go quite far if the right people recognize your talent and you develop a reputation for being someone to listen to.
The sweet spot though, is recognizing the power and need for influence, but in pursuit of outcomes, not personal glory. In such a framework your idea is no more valuable to you than any other idea. You also don't need to directly convince everyone of what you know, you can simply make timely observations and ask questions to nudge folks towards the right conclusion independently. Finally, you want to cultivate the humility and self-awareness to realize your own biases and limitations. All paths are tradeoffs, all narratives are reductive and all outcomes are probabilistic.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is 80% a very good point; for the other 20%, I think sometimes about how experts in my field will still disagree, vehemently, about stuff in the field, and seemingly show all the same biases -- they're defending territory, they're viciously contesting for status, vs trying to get closer to "the truth" through the scientific method. No one is immune, so whatever wisdom the OP gains on this quest will still be use…
Yeah, expert disagreement does occur (we can see it in real time on HN itself) and often it boils down to "I don't want to do more work" or "that is better but the cost/benefit isn't there". But even then it's better than uninformed arm-chair quarterbacking. And for those watching from the sidelines, if you watch long enough, you start to get a "feel" for the various sides.
I suppose it at least narrows the points of disagreement? So that, e.g., economists will agree on a _lot_ of stuff, even though their points of contention are so magnified that it appears they agree on nothing?
The HN example is interesting. The one topic that comes up consistently on HN that I feel like I have expert-level knowledge of (bitcoin) reveals mostly tribalism / religion couched as rational discussion. It was the most visceral illustration for me of that construct (can't remember the term) about how you read about some topic in the newspaper where you have expertise and say to yourself: this is such crap, they've missed all the nuance. And then you go on to other parts of the newspaper and believe it un-critically.
Re: Ask HN: How to be less opinionated?
#90Simple.
Prefer discussions over debates.