Lesson 16 of 32
Your Brain Lies To You
Overconfidence is a design flaw in human thinking. The more certain you feel, the more you should question your assumptions.
The Lesson
Your mind is designed to create coherent stories, not to find objective truth. This means you will often feel right even when you're wrong. This is especially dangerous for smart people, who are skilled at defending ideas they haven't properly questioned. The moment you think you have it all figured out is the moment you stop learning.
The solution is to hold your beliefs strongly but loosely. Act decisively, but remain open to being wrong. Protect yourself from your own blind spots by seeking out people and evidence that contradict your views. True intellectual strength isn't shown by doubling down on your position, but by your willingness to change your mind when the evidence demands it.
The Question
What belief are you most confident about because you've "done your research" - and how much of that research was actually just finding smart people who already agreed with you?
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