Aotearoa / New Zealand

Depends what it is. It can be fun to explore the other side. Sometimes infuriating when you discover that your bias was actually correct and the other side is actually full of idiots. Ie flat earth, communism, trickle down economics, people who make things out of old pallets.

No, I don't, and I've never really thought about it before. Being able to look at something objectively has never really been on my mind and with everything moving towards extremes (everything being climate and politics, the two favourite chew toys of the media) I guess it's something I've sort of fallen into.

I guess there's comfort in finding something that supports your own opinion and looking for competing ideas seems a bit like looking for something to stress about.

Cheers for the thought, that's given me something to ponder on the way to work this morning 🤔

I try to. I started because I got so annoyed with others failing to do this.

However, I still fail at it often enough to occasionally embarrass myself.

Instead of jumping straight to competing views I habitually first look at the basis for the view.

So for your example I would be looking at his sources of scientific information, checking that they do in fact say what he thinks they say and that they were published in journals of good standing.

Then I would look around the subject a bit and see if they represent the consensus or if there is debate over them.

I often see people argue competing views while accepting flawed premises. For example a person presenting the view that the measles vaccine was what was responsible for the notable worldwide rise in child respiratory illnesses in the same timeframe. The opposing argument was that correlation doesn't equal causation and there isn't necessarily a link.

But in reality when I took a look there wasn't even any correlation to begin with, as child respiratory infections have decreased in that timeframe. So in this case neither the view or the competing view are meaningful.

Sign me up!

I'll be sure not to disappoint.

I'm usually great at inspiring people, though I do have a kryptonite that keeps my superpowers in check; lack of money. 😉

I'm down for a photography challenge!

I never have a problem with cold hands but my feet get cold even in socks.

Is there a market niche for heated mice?

Funnily enough, I just got an account banned from Lemmygrad. They're a sensitive bunch.