Thursday, November 6, 2008

Best Paragraph Read Today

Bias much of everything.
Having this in mind, this is the best paragraph I read today.
"We feel a deep pleasure from realizing that we believe something in common with our friends, and different from most people. We feel an even deeper pleasure letting everyone know of this fact. This feeling is EVIL. Learn to see it in yourself, and then learn to be horrified by how thoroughly it can poison your mind. Yes evidence may at times force you to disagree with a majority, and your friends may have correlated exposure to that evidence, but take no pleasure when you and your associates disagree with others; that is the road to rationality ruin."
Tip of the hat to MR for the pointer.
Read all here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"but take no pleasure when you and your associates disagree with others; that is the road to rationality ruin.""

So, true.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love that last phrase....
"Rationality ruin", indeed.

Sra said...

That's an interesting perspective which I'll have to think about before I know how I feel about it.

But it reminds me of something I read maybe a year or two ago about Groupthink, and how the best thinking is done when there is a healthy level of disagreement between people. I think the message was that group cohesion is important, but when you agree too much, you begin to rely on that normative dynamic rather than approaching things from a rational perspective. Wish I could remember where I read all this.

Unknown said...

I also think that a healthy amount of disagreement is good. I mean not disagreeing for the heck of it, but you know, enough.
I cannot stand, personally, people who love to disagree just because they love being negative. That has the same value in my book as people who are always agreeable. The secret here is moderation, of course.

Anonymous said...

At the same time, though, commonality of though is community-building.

Anonymous said...

At the same time, though, commonality of though is community-building.

Unknown said...

It's very tough to 'learn to see it' in one's self since humans are social animals and so much about us is derived form what others say about us. But, the beauty of individualism is sticking to one's own thought and viewpoint. Healthy disagreement is healthy.
I have wondered how you manage to be good friends with people who think so differently from one another.
I make it a point to be friends with people who don't always think like me, too, but it's tough at times.
This is a very, very good paragraph. thx

Unknown said...

It's very tough to 'learn to see it' in one's self since humans are social animals and so much about us is derived form what others say about us. But, the beauty of individualism is sticking to one's own thought and viewpoint. Healthy disagreement is healthy.
I have wondered how you manage to be good friends with people who think so differently from one another.
I make it a point to be friends with people who don't always think like me, too, but it's tough at times.
This is a very, very good paragraph. thx