Can you learn more from those who agree with you or disagree with you? (Thanks to my friend Kel for the question.)
People tend to spend most of their time with others who think like them, and they would benefit from seeking out people with different beliefs, ideas and experiences. But I can think of one important exception to this general rule. Knowledge builds on top of knowledge, so to explore the boundaries of your beliefs, you need to have a common base to build from. To take an extreme example, if I want to know whether the common tendency to gravitate toward like-minded people has a genetic component, it won’t do me any good to discuss it with a religious fundamentalist who believes the world was created 6000 years ago and that evolution is “just a theory”. They could still be my friend, but this subject would probably be off-limits. Similarly, right after I’ve read a book it’s nice to be able to find others who have also read it to get other opinions, but this means that they have to share my interest in that book to begin with.
But this is a fairly minor exception. There are so many causes of inertia in life (genes, culture, institutions, media, tradition, peer pressure, apathy, laziness, etc) that it’s probably a mistake to give people this loophole justification for spending all their time with people who think like them, because that would just add to the inertia. Most people are not exploring the boundaries of their beliefs and would definitely benefit more from people who think differently than from people who think alike.
People tend to spend most of their time with others who think like them, and they would benefit from seeking out people with different beliefs, ideas and experiences. But I can think of one important exception to this general rule. Knowledge builds on top of knowledge, so to explore the boundaries of your beliefs, you need to have a common base to build from. To take an extreme example, if I want to know whether the common tendency to gravitate toward like-minded people has a genetic component, it won’t do me any good to discuss it with a religious fundamentalist who believes the world was created 6000 years ago and that evolution is “just a theory”. They could still be my friend, but this subject would probably be off-limits. Similarly, right after I’ve read a book it’s nice to be able to find others who have also read it to get other opinions, but this means that they have to share my interest in that book to begin with.
But this is a fairly minor exception. There are so many causes of inertia in life (genes, culture, institutions, media, tradition, peer pressure, apathy, laziness, etc) that it’s probably a mistake to give people this loophole justification for spending all their time with people who think like them, because that would just add to the inertia. Most people are not exploring the boundaries of their beliefs and would definitely benefit more from people who think differently than from people who think alike.
2 Comments:
why would you want to have a friend who is ignorant? life is too short to waste on people who would kill you if their imaginary friend told them to.
make no mistake, the person who believes that the world was created 6000 years ago will do you harm if that imaginary friend makes that command.
the older i get, the less tolerant i am about having bigots and fools close to me; yes, they're out there but i don't think that having them around makes me well rounded. reading "the blind watchmaker" again or a book by or about someone smarter than me (that's just about anyone, by the way) will make me more well rounded than having dinner with someone whose values are rotten.
By Anonymous, at 1:08 AM
I understand your point about not wanting to spend time with people who you consider ignorant. As far as I know, none of my friends believe the world was created 6000 years ago, but I can at least imagine being friends with someone who believed this. Obviously if you find such a belief highly objectionable, I can understand why you wouldn't want to spend time with such people. For me, as long as a person holds ignorant but victimless beliefs, I can tolerate them (and maybe even educate them). I don't think believing the world is only 6000 years old makes a person more likely to hear voices in their head telling them to commit murder, as you suggest. But I will admit that there's a positive correlation between ignorance and religious extremism, and that there's a positive correlation between religious extremism and violence.
By howtolive.org, at 12:49 PM
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