From: Robin Hanson (rhanson@gmu.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 24 2000 - 14:57:40 MST
M. E. Smith wrote:
>it is natural to have in societies people who disagree
>on various subjects. ... It would be pretty scary to
>a large society that agrees 100% all of the time; ...
>When someone expresses an opinion I consider extremist
>and stupid, (as happens often on this list) I
>sometimes remind myself that societies NEED
>extremists. They're part of the natural order; the
>debates they engender strengthen societies and
>exercise our minds. Their presence helps to keep
>societies balanced. Hell, sometimes the extremist are
>even RIGHT.
Actually, I find extremists to be the largest
impediment to getting people to take extreme ideas
seriously.
Society needs different ideas to be explored, and it
is fine if different people specialize in exploring
different ideas. But that doesn't need they need to
*believe* in those extreme ideas, and hence disagree
extremely. (In fact, I have a paper on why rational
creatures should not agree to disagree.)
Think of the analogy of wearing suits. A simple story
about wearing suits at work is that there are a few
bozos out there who refuse, and they aren't desirable
workers. So everyone else distinguishes themselves
from these bozos by wearing a suit, even though they
don't like it. If there weren't such bozos, there
wouldn't be a need to wear suits, and everyone would
be happier.
Similarly with ideas, the reason most people I know
resist exploring extreme ideas is that the only people
they've seen exploring them are these bozos they do
not want others to confuse them with. So they back
off, even though they find the ideas intrinsically
interesting. Just yesterday I talked with a very
smart colleague who did not want to hear about nanotech
because once years ago some idiot at a party cornered
him and blathered on and on about it with very
poorly conceived ideas and arguments.
Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
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