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Keep Your Identity Small

paulgraham.com

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Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#21

Post by gnaritas »

joubert wrote: post #16

"Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs." No, every opinion is not equally valid - there is a range of probabilities into which opinions can be classified. The more improbable the belief, the less valid it is. One doesn't have to prove that a theory is 100% wrong, merely that on the scale of probability it scores poorly against a rival theory.…

You can't argue against religion with logic or facts, if that were possible religion would have died a long time ago.

As far as everyone is concerned, all opinions pretty much are equally valid, whether they actually are or not doesn't seem to matter.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#23

Post by bokonist »

The key to having a sane political discussion is to remember that the survival of your tribe does not actually depend on the outcome of the discussion. Discuss politics as an observer of a complex and fascinating system, not as a participant trying to influence events. Despite what your grade school teachers taught you, unless you're Paul Krugman or Samantha Powers your political views do not matter.

People act hysterical in political debates because they feel threatened. But the pseudo-anonymous commenter you are debating has an infinitesimally small impact on policy. So stop feeling threatened. While the policy in question may or may not be disastrous, getting angry in a comment thread is not going to make a whit of difference.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#24

Post by BigZaphod »

adsyoung wrote: post #15

Its posts like this and Paul's "How to Disagree" that remind me of an idea that I keep coming back to again and again. I've often wondered what would be possible in terms of designing a website that aims to moderate debate in a way that leads to new ideas and conclusions and attempts to negate as many of these types of effects as possible. Some formal system, that the users would have no choice but to follow, that be…

Sounds like Wikipedia. :)

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#25

Post by froo »

Hey pg, here is at least one situation that entirely backs up your theory.

I'm not a Freemason, but one of the rules of Freemasonry is that politics and religion are NOT to be discussed while within the lodge.

This is done in part so that no mason will have to justify their personal interpretation of either (and thus their identity) to any other mason while in the lodge.

Perhaps they were onto something (apart from getting drunk and playing ping pong)

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#27

Post by indiejade »

Maybe it's not so much religion or politics as it is a matter of open-mindedness vs. close-mindedness. There are extremists on both ends of the spectra on politics and religion. I think a lot of the disputes between humans could be resolved if people were more willing to stop and listen, learn, read, discover, empathize with the plights of others.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#28

Post by brandnewlow »

Having a "small identity" has cost me a bit as a writer. I once interned at a magazine that was looking for contributors to their politics blog, covering this presidential election. I don't have a political science degree. I never worked in government or on a campaign. So I didn't think it'd make sense for me to start opining on the horserace in the way they were looking for. Other interns were more than happy to leap into the fray despite being in the same boat more or less.

So while I'd rather hang out with people who don't argue about things they know nothing about. I think the market favors the bold, and that includes people leaping into debates about things they know nothing about.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#29

Post by BigZaphod »

gnaritas wrote: post #21
joubert wrote: post #16

"Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs." No, every opinion is not equally valid - there is a range of probabilities into which opinions can be classified. The more improbable the belief, the less valid it is. One doesn't have to prove that a theory is 100% wrong, merely that on the scale of probability it scores poorly against a rival theory.…

You can't argue against religion with logic or facts, if that were possible religion would have died a long time ago. As far as everyone is concerned, all opinions pretty much are equally valid, whether they actually are or not doesn't seem to matter.

I think it's more like: As far as everyone is concerned, their own opinions are more correct than everyone else's. Which is what leads to debate, argument, etc. If everyone believed opinions were all equally valid, they'd just live and let live. There'd be no reason for conflict.

Edit: There's something incongruent about trying to discuss an opinion of how the validity of opinions is determined... Hmm...

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#30

Post by menloparkbum »

froo wrote: post #25

Hey pg, here is at least one situation that entirely backs up your theory. I'm not a Freemason, but one of the rules of Freemasonry is that politics and religion are NOT to be discussed while within the lodge. This is done in part so that no mason will have to justify their personal interpretation of either (and thus their identity) to any other mason while in the lodge. Perhaps they were onto something (apart from g…

The notion that it is impolite to discuss politics and religion is a staple bit of folk wisdom dispensed by parents, grandparents, various other elders, and barkeeps the world over.
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