My own example: I used to be very libertarian, until I moved to Kenya. In Kenya, I saw cops who were nakedly corrupt, streets in such ill repair that they looked like they were in a warzone, and crippled people on every street. When I came back to the US and didn't see any (well, much) of that, it sort of hit me like "Oh, this is why we pay taxes."
I still think shrinking the government will generally produce good outcomes, but Kenya changed me from "let's burn it all down!" to "let's tinker around the edges and see what happens."
I used to be very against Localism. As a good economist, I believed that specialization and comparative advantage could best be put to use by participation in the globalized economy. I thought that "Buy Local" was basically superstition.
But I eventually realized that there is a tradeoff between prosperity and sovereignty. How many people can't speak their mind at work because they fear losing their jobs - and if they were self employed they would be able to speak freely? When a community does not have any local businesses it is very vulnerable to decisions made a thousand miles away in corporate headquarters.
Moreover, in any giant organization there is opportunity for corruption. Keeping business small and close to home mitigates that risk.
I've changed my mind many times (especially recently), but the one that stands out as my first significant change was my belief in vegetarianism. I thought being vegetarian was the most healthy way to eat for all humans, and I believed that it was better for animals and the earth. When I realized that I have issues with blood sugar and am highly sensitive to carbohydrates, I discovered that a diet that includes meat and animal fats works better for my body. That led me to looking into the roll of grain-based agriculture in society, regenerative farming, and many other issues. I now believe that many humans do better on diets that include animal foods.
I've changed my mind plenty. I was raised in a liberal Canadian family, was interested in Marxism and far-left politics in my early teens and became a white nationalist in my late teens after I read Frank Salter's work on ethnic genetic interests. I think that it clicked with me so well because I had already absorbed a basically Darwinian worldview from the Attenborough documentaries that I was raised on. Since then I've gone back on forth on all sorts of other questions; liberalism against illiberalism, individualism against communitarianism, traditionalism against modernism and statism against markets. I've never been able to convince myself of belief in the supernatural, but I've gone from the anti-clerical atheism that I was raised on to a more positive view of religion on utilitarian grounds and then back.
A good mental exercise is self-honesty about willingness to change one's mind. We all have core beliefs that we are emotionally bound to, and second-order beliefs that we derive from a combination of our core beliefs and reason. I think that less of an issue than an unwillingness to change one's mind is a false openness to opposing beliefs. Most I think signal far more rationality than they are really committed to.
"I've never been able to convince myself of belief in the supernatural"--FWIW, I read C.S. Lewis recently and he said that we shouldn't try to dupe ourselves one way or another. God gave us reason for a reason, and if that reason leads us away from a belief in the supernatural...well, that's better than trying to *make* ourselves believe in God.
"When a young man who has been going to church in a routine way honestly realises that he does not believe in Christianity and stops going—provided he does it for honesty’s sake and not just to annoy his parents—the spirit of Christ is probably nearer to him then than it ever was before."--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
"A good mental exercise is self-honesty about willingness to change one's mind. We all have core beliefs that we are emotionally bound to, and second-order beliefs that we derive from a combination of our core beliefs and reason. I think that less of an issue than an unwillingness to change one's mind is a false openness to opposing beliefs. Most I think signal far more rationality than they are really committed to."--I LOVE this. Could I quote this? Happy to attribute you however you'd like :)
It's a paid article, but I'll gift you a paid subscription tomorrow (I need to figure out how). I don't like the idea of quoting a subscriber in a piece they inspired and then not giving them a chance to read the finished piece :)
This article raises a really important and often overlooked point - we expect others to change their minds, but don't really embrace changing *our own* minds as part of being a healthy human being. Changing someone's mind is seen as a "victory" over the "other side", rather than simply part of a completely normal, standard, healthy, regularly occurring event.
If we could embrace changing one's opinion or changing one's mind as a completely normal part of life, we could give ourselves and each other so much more grace and lessen the pressure to have the "correct answers" and "be right" at every step of the way.
I've changed my mind about almost everything, and felt the resistance, and sometimes anger, from others for doing so. The biggest topic I changed my mind on is religious faith. I used to be 100% CERTAIN about everything that I thought, whereas now, I tend to hold my beliefs lightly and leave space for uncertainty.
My own example: I used to be very libertarian, until I moved to Kenya. In Kenya, I saw cops who were nakedly corrupt, streets in such ill repair that they looked like they were in a warzone, and crippled people on every street. When I came back to the US and didn't see any (well, much) of that, it sort of hit me like "Oh, this is why we pay taxes."
I still think shrinking the government will generally produce good outcomes, but Kenya changed me from "let's burn it all down!" to "let's tinker around the edges and see what happens."
I used to be very against Localism. As a good economist, I believed that specialization and comparative advantage could best be put to use by participation in the globalized economy. I thought that "Buy Local" was basically superstition.
But I eventually realized that there is a tradeoff between prosperity and sovereignty. How many people can't speak their mind at work because they fear losing their jobs - and if they were self employed they would be able to speak freely? When a community does not have any local businesses it is very vulnerable to decisions made a thousand miles away in corporate headquarters.
Moreover, in any giant organization there is opportunity for corruption. Keeping business small and close to home mitigates that risk.
Buying Local is sometimes good.
That's a really good point!
I've changed my mind many times (especially recently), but the one that stands out as my first significant change was my belief in vegetarianism. I thought being vegetarian was the most healthy way to eat for all humans, and I believed that it was better for animals and the earth. When I realized that I have issues with blood sugar and am highly sensitive to carbohydrates, I discovered that a diet that includes meat and animal fats works better for my body. That led me to looking into the roll of grain-based agriculture in society, regenerative farming, and many other issues. I now believe that many humans do better on diets that include animal foods.
Same!
I've changed my mind plenty. I was raised in a liberal Canadian family, was interested in Marxism and far-left politics in my early teens and became a white nationalist in my late teens after I read Frank Salter's work on ethnic genetic interests. I think that it clicked with me so well because I had already absorbed a basically Darwinian worldview from the Attenborough documentaries that I was raised on. Since then I've gone back on forth on all sorts of other questions; liberalism against illiberalism, individualism against communitarianism, traditionalism against modernism and statism against markets. I've never been able to convince myself of belief in the supernatural, but I've gone from the anti-clerical atheism that I was raised on to a more positive view of religion on utilitarian grounds and then back.
A good mental exercise is self-honesty about willingness to change one's mind. We all have core beliefs that we are emotionally bound to, and second-order beliefs that we derive from a combination of our core beliefs and reason. I think that less of an issue than an unwillingness to change one's mind is a false openness to opposing beliefs. Most I think signal far more rationality than they are really committed to.
"I've never been able to convince myself of belief in the supernatural"--FWIW, I read C.S. Lewis recently and he said that we shouldn't try to dupe ourselves one way or another. God gave us reason for a reason, and if that reason leads us away from a belief in the supernatural...well, that's better than trying to *make* ourselves believe in God.
"When a young man who has been going to church in a routine way honestly realises that he does not believe in Christianity and stops going—provided he does it for honesty’s sake and not just to annoy his parents—the spirit of Christ is probably nearer to him then than it ever was before."--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
"A good mental exercise is self-honesty about willingness to change one's mind. We all have core beliefs that we are emotionally bound to, and second-order beliefs that we derive from a combination of our core beliefs and reason. I think that less of an issue than an unwillingness to change one's mind is a false openness to opposing beliefs. Most I think signal far more rationality than they are really committed to."--I LOVE this. Could I quote this? Happy to attribute you however you'd like :)
Absolutely. You're welcome to quote anything that I write. And thank you for your kind words.
I wrote an article about your quote! https://www.healthewest.org/p/how-open-minded-am-i-really
It's a paid article, but I'll gift you a paid subscription tomorrow (I need to figure out how). I don't like the idea of quoting a subscriber in a piece they inspired and then not giving them a chance to read the finished piece :)
Thank you!
<3
This article raises a really important and often overlooked point - we expect others to change their minds, but don't really embrace changing *our own* minds as part of being a healthy human being. Changing someone's mind is seen as a "victory" over the "other side", rather than simply part of a completely normal, standard, healthy, regularly occurring event.
If we could embrace changing one's opinion or changing one's mind as a completely normal part of life, we could give ourselves and each other so much more grace and lessen the pressure to have the "correct answers" and "be right" at every step of the way.
Love this!
I've changed my mind about almost everything, and felt the resistance, and sometimes anger, from others for doing so. The biggest topic I changed my mind on is religious faith. I used to be 100% CERTAIN about everything that I thought, whereas now, I tend to hold my beliefs lightly and leave space for uncertainty.
Amazing!