I didn’t track where on social media I saw this, and so I can’t give credit where credit is due, but I wanted to share.
It was a video of woman sharing a discussion with her husband after she said something like, “I thought I was smart, how did I not know…”
And her husband said, “You are smart…”And then he went on to define smart in a way that she’d never thought of:
A smart person is wise enough to know when they are wrong and will change their mind.
What a great definition! I think that too many people take opposing views as if they are dichotomies, and don’t realize that different views are on a spectrum. As such you can move your views (or have your views changed by good arguments) and that doesn’t mean your whole identity is now different.
Smart people recognize when they are wrong, change their mind, and move on. It’s not a polarizing thing, it’s actually a wise thing to do. If you find that you are always right, are you learning anything new? How smart are you?
(Don’t answer that unless you are willing to change your mind.)😜
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Update 9:36pm: Just came by this and had to add it to the post:
I remember when Bill Nye debated Ken Ham on evolution vs creation, and Nye asked “What would change your mind about this?” and Ham said “Nothing.” Nye says, “that’s the difference between you and me. For me, if I saw the right evidence, I would change my mind.”
It’s not just being willing to change one’s mind, but to be able to look for the evidence and on presentation of that evidence, change one’s mind.
Excellent point Stephen. The quote I added to the post later in the day by Carl Sagan really encapsulates this idea. I think both politics and religion embolden people to only see ‘evidence’ as anything that supports their viewpoint… and so what they seek isn’t really evidence, it’s just validation. Changing of minds is not on the table.