website: draft of "being wrong" article

infra/website/content/blog/xxx_be_wrong.md

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+Title: Embrace being proven wrong
+Category: Blog
+Date: 2021-11-26
+Tags: culture, politics
+Status: Draft
+
+
+I recently posted an article on my Twitter feed about the shortcomings
+of Flatpak.  It resonated with me and my opinions on a subject that,
+it turned out, I didn't know enough about.  I had conversations with
+people who were far bigger experts in this area than me, both some in
+favour of Flatpak, and some sceptical, and came to new conclusions.
+
+Don't get me wrong: I'm still not 100% convinced.  I still have
+criticism of Flatpak, as I think anyone can have about anything.
+
+But I opted to delete my tweet because I didn't feel comfortable with
+the hyperbole of the article.  Worse even: in some corners of the
+internet the article had garnered a reputation for "speaking truth to
+power", feeding into a weird Red Hat conspiracy theory that I felt
+even more uncomfortable with.
+
+## Discourse neurology
+
+This style of rhetoric, the "taking apart an argument so I don't have
+to think about it too hard", has become very common in modern
+discourse.  This is driven by the "fight or flight" response of the
+amygdala in our brains.  A feeling of physical anxiety floods us when
+we are on the defensive, for whatever reason.  And all logic goes out
+the window.
+
+Many of the arguments you see online (and many offline too, don't get
+me wrong!) center around this emotional response and it is one that
+our culture fosters as well.
+
+Admitting to being wrong is seen as a weakness and connected to shame,
+a loss of status, and humiliation.  And so, we are never wrong.  We
+attack our intellectual oponents in order to relieve ourselves of the
+responsibility of having to engage with an argument that makes us
+uncomfortable.  This is how filter bubbles get created too.
+
+## Hope for the future
+
+But that's not how it needs to be.  And that's what this blog post is
+about.
+
+Because let's face it: we're all wrong about most things.  There are
+too many things to be known, and too little time to know them all.
+And because society favours whitty comebacks at surface level
+discourse, this doesn't change the fact that we are filtering
+ourselves from properly engaging with arguments that we might find
+uncomfortable.
+
+**There is an antidote however: radical vulnerability and humility.**
+
+Being wrong is an opportunity to learn something new and to broaden
+your perspective on some topic you didn't understand previously.
+Approach arguments that make you uncomfortable with an open curiocity
+and you will find yourself agreeing with more things than you
+previously thought.
+
+And this isn't about just changing your opinions either.  By engaging
+more openly with things you disagree with you can actually increase
+your resolution on ideas that you hold dear.  I'd also like to point
+out that not all ideas are equally valid.  Fuck you if you think this
+justifies debating nazis...
+
+Ultimately I want to approach life with a curiocity that doesn't
+exclude me from new and exciting things that may be happening in the
+communities I'm in, or from ignoring uncomfortable truths about how
+the system we are forced to live in works.
+
+And maybe, if enough of us do this, we can make this world just a
+little bit better too.