I used to think people could change their beliefs. I thought if people were presented with better information which showed the flaw in their belief, they would change their belief to fit the new information. I thought the process would be almost automatic.
Tag: media
The Deeper the Disagreement, the Higher the Stakes, the More Important the Honesty
Man, I thought the culture wars were bad when I was a kid. It’s cliche to say now that people are more divided along political lines than ever, so I’ll spare you. You know it. And that divide is particularly evident when people try to communicate with each other.
The New Censors
Do you say what you think? That’s risky! You may get fired! You’ve probably heard about a New York Times editor resigning after approving an opinion piece by Senator Tom Cotton that suggested the military to step in to end riots. Many Times reporters tweeted out the same alarmist wording, “Running this puts Black NY Times staffers in danger.” Really? How?
Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty: The New Republic
I’ve been waiting to read the fifth volume of Murray Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty for over 30 years. Now my former student Patrick Newman, professor at Florida Southern College, has miraculously undeleted this “lost work.” Patrick’s quasi-archaeological efforts are nothing short of amazing, but how does the actual book hold up?
Conflation Confirmation Conflagration
Conflation is running amock these days. People are actually making important decisions because certain things are viewed as Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, patriotic, religious, lawful, or criminal.
You Don’t Get Credit for the Moral Advances of Others
Oh, you’re anti-racism, hmm? You believe women should have equal rights? You’re against war? You think Nazis are bad? Good. But that belief (and repeating it on social media, etc) doesn’t make you a hero. Being “more enlightened” than your ancestors in these ways doesn’t actually make you smarter or wiser.
Respecting Liberty Will Still Work
Liberty, which is freedom tempered with responsibility, could solve all these problems to the extent they can be solved. Exercise your freedom to do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t violate the equal and identical rights of any other person. There’s no better way to live among others.
COVID-19: Freedom Means That We Can Do Stupid Things, Not That We Have To
Yes, as freedom returns, some people will throw caution entirely to the winds. They should be free to act like idiots, right up to the point they actually — not prospectively, not hypothetically, ACTUALLY — cause harm to non-consenting others. They should also be free to refrain from acting like idiots.
Complexity Simplistic, Induction, Standards, & Information (21m) – Episode 008
Episode 008 looks at the Complexity Simplistic logical fallacy, Inductive thinking, setting and using proper standards, and taking care when obtaining information from popular and social media.
Stories Open Doors
When someone tells you, “I’m an engineer”, instead of filing this as a fact in your mental Rolodex, you immediately want to know the story. How did they end up an engineer? Is this the end of a long journey, the beginning of a new story, or the middle? Curiosity drives you to ask good questions, good questions make connections, and connections lead to opportunities.