Curated. If I’ve understood correctly, “staring into the abyss” is an evocative way of saying “consider the uncomfortable and/or inconvenient. And I think the ability to do this is foundational to rationality. For most people considering that you are wrong requires considering something uncomfortable. Same for considering that you have room to improve. And the willingness to consider the uncomfortable often comes from having a clear map-territory distinction. You consider the uncomfortable because if it’s real, it’s real even if you don’t consider it.
This post provides more and better examples of considering the uncomfortable/staring into the abyss than I can point to elsewhere. Kudos! This is a good resource I expect to come back to.
Curated. If I’ve understood correctly, “staring into the abyss” is an evocative way of saying “consider the uncomfortable and/or inconvenient. And I think the ability to do this is foundational to rationality. For most people considering that you are wrong requires considering something uncomfortable. Same for considering that you have room to improve. And the willingness to consider the uncomfortable often comes from having a clear map-territory distinction. You consider the uncomfortable because if it’s real, it’s real even if you don’t consider it.
This post provides more and better examples of considering the uncomfortable/staring into the abyss than I can point to elsewhere. Kudos! This is a good resource I expect to come back to.