We know a lot about how people think. For example, once you state a strong preference (like “I hate XXX because he’s evil”) your mind immediately goes into defensive mode. You interpret different opinions as personal attacks, and you lose the capacity to think rationally. This is called cognitive bias. Cognitive bias makes you into an NPC over time as you repeatedly take inflexible positions.
One way to tell if you’re intolerant is to ask yourself if you loudly state a lot of inflexible positions like this. If you do, you are almost certainly intolerant simply because we know the way the mind works and taking inflexible positions like this hardens the mind over time.
How to keep your mind free
Are there ways to keep your mind free? Yes. One way is to refrain from having opinions, but that makes you a different kind of NPC. It lets other people make your decisions for you. That’s not optimal.
Freethinking Approach 1. Another way is to state “strong opinions, loosely held.” You still say: “I strongly hate XXX because he’s evil,” but you add this at the end: “Having said that, I’m holding that opinion loosely just in case something changes my opinion.” You don’t need to ever change your opinion, by the way. But adding this phrase turns off your mind’s defensive mode, keeps you free and saves you from being an NPC, because you’ve clearly stated that you’re open to considering updated information.
Freethinking Approach 2. A similar tactic is what the poker player Annie Duke calls Thinking in Bets. Thinking in Bets is a tool for making decisions under uncertainty. When you Think in Bets, you assign probabilities to your opinions. When you think in bets, you say “I’m 99% convinced that XXX is an evil person.” That 1% gives you permission to listen to contrary opinions. It’s also good hygiene, because nothing is ever 100% certain. If you are 100% certain about something, you’re claiming an authority you don’t have. Thinking in Bets rewards you by getting you out of that loop.
Both these tactics can be hard to do without practice. But if your goal is keep your mind clear, then protecting yourself against cognitive bias is important.
And yet – sometimes you want your opinion to become your identity
I’ve noticed that people who write about clear thinking rarely mention that there are benefits to turning strong opinions into your identity. When you adopt an identity, you get benefits that you don’t get otherwise.
Saying, ”I’m a Republican” or “I’m a Democrat” aligns you with a team. And teams get benefits: Teams attract likeminded people, create community, and give people a shared worldview. People on teams get to see the world in a way that’s easier to manage, since remaining unaligned is very hard for humans to do, given the way that our brains are built.
If you play roleplaying games, this is what happens when you join a faction. You get new quests and conversation options. But if we can’t be 100% certain about our opinions, joining a team is illogical. Why would we do it?
The best definition of faith I’ve ever heard
It comes down to faith. So far, this has been about politics, but it applies to religions too. When people say “I’m a Catholic,” or “I’m a Hindu” the immediate response is frequently “how can you believe those myths? They’re not aligned with a modern worldview.” This is similar to what a Democrat would say to a Republican, or vice versa.
This is where faith comes in. Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters is not a Christian or a Hindu, but he explains faith really well in his autobiography. As a kid, Dave Grohl held an irrational belief that he would be a successful drummer. That irrational belief never went away. Dave Grohl had no reason and no evidence as a kid that he would be a successful drummer. But he still believed it, and then he became a world famous drummer. Did believing he would be famous manifest something for him? Was it a prophecy only he could see? I don’t know. But I do know that this is faith.
Faith is believing in something despite the evidence, and it delivers real benefits. Someone who believes in a religion’s mythology, despite any evidence, gets the full benefits of that religion – participation, a worldview, a reality tunnel that is typically tested and works.
Right now religious people might be thinking that atheists have faith too. This is correct. We don’t know the truth. We’re not even sure if we can know the truth, or if we can only get as far as the limitations of our mind. Given that, it’s faith either way.
Obviously, there is real danger in having faith in something bad for you. Be careful of salespeople and people who tell you what to believe. Tell them to wait while you do your own research and make your own decision. And if you decide to have faith, make sure it is your decision.
Having faith (religion) and joining a faction (politics) both do offer real benefits, even though they can close our minds to differing opinions if we’re not careful. For better or worse, this is just the way that the human mind works.
But can you do both?
Yes. I believe you can do both if you blend the freethinking approach with faith. Here are the key tactics:
Tactic One. Align to the ideas, not the party. Rather than saying “I’m a Liberal,” say “I’m inclined to Liberalism.” This shows a commitment to ideas rather than being a party follower, and gives you room to maneuver if the party changes. You get the benefits of joining a faction, but you still get to think critically. I got this tactic from You Will Not Stampede Me.
Tactic Two. Use “opinions loosely held” and “thinking in bets” when you make political claims. Even if you align with 100% of your chosen party’s positions, don’t say “XXX is evil.” Say “I’m 99% certain XXX is evil.” You get the faction benefits while still being able to think critically, because you’ve given yourself freedom to update your worldview with new information.
Tactic Three. Make sure decisions about faith are your decisions. Use this statement: “The truthful claim is that we don’t know XXX for certain. We don’t even know if we can know, or if the limits of our brains mark the limits of what we can understand. Given that, I choose to believe that XXX.” This gets you the benefits of faith, while still allowing you to stay tolerant of other opinions.
Take a Position
Take a position. It’s good for you. But take it like a tolerant freethinker to save yourself from becoming an NPC. And don’t forget to vote. You’re voting for your identity, and that’s immensely important.
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