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August 13, 2005
The power of myth
From Life Beyond Code, I found this:
"We have the strongest opinions on the things that we have the least knowledge of" - David Thomas
Now, at first thought, this seems true, we pompous, opinionated homo sapiens. But it falls apart under any form of scrutiny.
For example, I have virtually no knowledge of air conditioner installation and repair, and I have no strong opinions at all about how it should be done. Generally speaking, I feel pretty comfortable saying that few people with no knowledge of AC installation have strong opinions of how ACs should be installed.
And, on the other side of the equation, I happen to know that virtually all economists, a group famous both for their extensive education and for their inability to agree hold extremely strong opinions about topics that they know a great deal about. For example, almost all of them feel very strongly that open, free trade is a very good thing, even though it 'seems like' we're shipping jobs and money to China.
So it falls apart from both angles.
However, let's see if we can salvage it, because there is some truth.
1. People will often have strong opinions about topics with which they are woefully undereducated, because these opinons fit their pre-existing worldview.
2. People will often pretend to hold strong opinions on topics that they have little knowledge of, to either impress or dominate others.
3. People who are extremely well educated about a topic will often find that the data is inconclusive, and will often hedge their statements because they know that counter-examples exist.
None of these are as fluid off of the tongue, but at least they are more accurate.
Posted by jb at August 13, 2005 11:23 PM
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