The Gray Area with Sean Illing Julia Galef on how to argue better and change your mind more
18 snips
Jul 25, 2017 
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Childhood Example of Intellectual Dishonesty
- Julia Galef recalls a childhood moment where a friend mocked another kid for not knowing cursive "Y."
- She realized the mockery wasn’t about cursive but just the desire to bully, illustrating early intellectual dishonesty.
Motivated Reasoning and Intelligence
- Motivated reasoning causes people to accept evidence that fits their beliefs and reject that which doesn’t.
- Intelligence can worsen this problem by enabling more persuasive self-rationalizations.
Motivation vs Accuracy
- People lack motivation to hold accurate beliefs because benefits are small and effort is high.
- Emotional rewards from tribal identity often outweigh the negligible gains from accuracy.