I have two brief points to make, both inspired by Sam Harris.
1. If you make the story about the fact that you changed your mind, rather than about the topic itself, then you don’t earn any rationality points from me. “Look at me. I changed my mind! See, this is proof that I am open-minded, and therefore you can take the other things I say (the things I care more about) seriously.”
2. Rather than brag about changing your mind, perhaps you should be critical of yourself for having an uninformed opinion in the first place. Harris wrote: “I no longer believe that a mostly covert war makes strategic or moral sense. Among the costs of our current approach are a total lack of accountability, abuse of the press, collusion with tyrants and warlords, a failure to enlist allies, and an ongoing commitment to secrecy and deception that is corrosive to our politics and to our standing abroad.” Why was Harris in favor of a covert war before? The information in the documentary was out there. And it’s fine if he didn’t look for it — just don’t have an opinion.
Why do we encourage everyone to have opinions? We should encourage information seeking, not opinion forming. At least, that is the opinion that I have formed based on inadequate information.
[…] written before about how I don’t really see changing your mind as a good thing. To me, it usually means that […]