Every time I changed my mind about something, it felt like “quitting,” like ceasing the struggle to come up with evidence for something I wanted to be true but wasn’t. Realizing “It’s so much easier to give up and follow the preponderance of the evidence.”
Examples: taking an economics class made it hard to believe that government interventions are mostly harmless. Learning about archaeology and textual analysis made it hard to believe in the infallibility of the Bible. Hearing cognitive science/philosophy arguments made it hard to believe in Cartesian dualism. Reading more papers made it hard to believe that looking at the spectrum of the Laplacian is a magic bullet for image processing. Extensive conversations with a friend made it hard to believe that I was helping him by advising him against pursuing his risky dreams.
When something’s getting hard to believe, consider giving up the belief. Just let the weight fall. Be lazy. If you’re working hard to justify an idea, you’re probably working too hard.
One of the problems with your examples in both economics and archeology is that less is known on the subject then what you think is known, especially if you have just taken introductory courses on the subject.
Agreed.
Every time I changed my mind about something, it felt like “quitting,” like ceasing the struggle to come up with evidence for something I wanted to be true but wasn’t. Realizing “It’s so much easier to give up and follow the preponderance of the evidence.”
Examples: taking an economics class made it hard to believe that government interventions are mostly harmless. Learning about archaeology and textual analysis made it hard to believe in the infallibility of the Bible. Hearing cognitive science/philosophy arguments made it hard to believe in Cartesian dualism. Reading more papers made it hard to believe that looking at the spectrum of the Laplacian is a magic bullet for image processing. Extensive conversations with a friend made it hard to believe that I was helping him by advising him against pursuing his risky dreams.
When something’s getting hard to believe, consider giving up the belief. Just let the weight fall. Be lazy. If you’re working hard to justify an idea, you’re probably working too hard.
One of the problems with your examples in both economics and archeology is that less is known on the subject then what you think is known, especially if you have just taken introductory courses on the subject.