Changing One's Mind, Part 1

Changing one's mind entails changing one's actions; an inconsistency between thought and action indicates a breakdown somewhere in the process of being a human person. (This does not mean it is uncommon, of course -- quite to the contrary.) Part of what it means to be rational is to acknowledge, clarify, and intensify the feedback loop between thinking and acting: through activity, I encounter the world, on which I reflect, on the basis of which I act, which provides more material for reflection, etc.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy philosophy -- a choice of thoughts is a choice of worlds in which to live and move, and each new concept adds a new dimension of experience to the world. Looking back, I am frequently amazed how much smaller a world I lived in even a few short years ago. And I expect to say the same a few years from now.

The problem is that there are ways of thinking that act to break down the integrity of thought and action. One of these ways has to do with a kind of false humility. Recognizing one's limitations is often beneficial, prompting me to examine beliefs I have long held correct, develop mental habits that compensate for likely biases and shortcomings, etc. On the other hand, these same limitations often becomes an excuse to sever the relationship between thought and action, to split oneself in two. As Yudkowsky says, "It is all too easy to meet every counterargument by saying, 'Well, of course I could be wrong.' Then, having dutifully genuflected in the direction of Modesty, having made the required obeisance, you can go on about your way without changing a thing. [...] The temptation is carefully integrate all incoming news in a way that lets us change our beliefs, and above all our actions, as little as possible." The tendency to do this increases with the inconvenience of changing one's mind or one's behavior.

Thus, in a strange way, the acknowledgement that I may be wrong becomes a functional insistence that I am right (or as right as I can be). Instead of fallibility being a reason to reevaluate, it becomes a confirmation of what is presumed likely to be in error.