To Open Your Mind, Reverse Your Process of Thinking
There’s joy in saying ‘I don’t know’
As my girlfriend likes to remind me, 95% of what I say is a formulation of something I’ve said before. Whether I’m talking about football with friends or debating philosophy with colleagues, I fire out cached replies like a robot prompted by trigger words.
Zonal marking? “Bad idea.”
Socrates? “Overestimated.”
Steven Pinker? “Deserves more credit.”
Animal consciousness? “It exists.”
Education? “Broken.”
Most people I know respond the same way. Our days are filled with re-hashes of familiar arguments and counterarguments. We race through conversations, trying to show how we’re a person like this and definitely not that. When we say “I don’t know,” it seems like we’re missing a chance to signal one of these virtues.
But there’s power in admitting when you don’t know the answer. There’s wisdom in acknowledging that even if you passionately believe something, there’s room for possibility, for discovery, for progress.
Many are the flaws in human reasoning which lead us to overestimate our beloved story. Our understanding of the world is shaped by tribalism or bias in the media, and it can be…
