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Chris Best's avatar

thus: we are dependent on the many slightly-deranged people who can again and again conjure confidence for their unsystematic and questionably-rational ideas and push them out into the world despite their fragility

just @ me next time

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Becca McArthur's avatar

This is lit, certainly.

An experience I had while reading was that I nodded along to your proposed outline, thinking to myself how much I’d like to read that piece. Then, when you blew up your own idea, I suddenly felt foolish for thinking it was good. That is, you were persuasive enough to convince me of both sides. But ... I still think the original outline is GOOD and is a post you should write! Does that make me foolish for thinking so, or you foolish for not writing it?

I feel like this exactly illustrates your point: rationalism (and especially rationalism on the Internet) has the ability to knock our collective confidence in our own thoughts so much that it leaves the great majority in paralysis and unable to express them at all.

This is very obviously bad and so I guess I’m just here to thank your ego, I guess, for posting it anyway. And I eagerly await the post from the outline, of course.

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