Thoughts about thinking

I think it’s important to be able to have a conversation about an opinion that you don’t agree with and have the conversation end in something other than a full throated rebuttal of that opinion. It seems like people have certain topics around which they are very attached to their ideas and are firmly devoted to defending them. But that’s no fun and certainly never leads to anyone getting smarter or expanding their mind. If I was suddenly transported to an intellectual battlefield and had to choose between having conversations with the people hunkered down in deep trenches or the people pacing the field, looking for new terrain or advantages or discoveries, it’s not even a contest. At the end of the conversation with the guy in the trench you might know more about what he thinks but what he thinks isn’t going to change. The girl pacing around looking for new things will have more stories and will join you on a ledge, so to speak, where you both look out over a vast unknown and ponder and conjecture and seek new information. I’m not saying it will get you laid but it makes for better stories later.

I’m more focused on being intellectually curious than finding additional support props for my existing beliefs. Because the farther down the “defending my ideas” road you go the more stringent and vitriolic becomes your tone. Plus you’ve got all these other people that align with your beliefs and have formed organizations to advance them. It’s easy to fall in step with that crowd and they give you a sense of power and authority. But I think in reality there’s a lot more hubris to be had in the world than beliefs that will be defensible over any extended period of time.

Also, I recognize that I’m advocating a particular approach to thinking. So you could say that I’m merely advocating one more system of beliefs to compete with the others that I’m critiquing. I mean isn’t there a game or something you could be watching?