Don’t correct people on the Internet
tl;dr: Do not try to force knowledge into anyone. Focus your efforts on asking and learning from the right sources, and using that knowledge to make better stuff. Argue less, learn more, build better.
“Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” — Proverbs 9:7–9
Which may be summarized as:
“Correct fools and they will insult you. Correct wise people and they will thank you.” — trylks
Be friends with wise people, and not with fools.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” — Napoleon Bonaparte
You do not need enemies, and you do not need to fight.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller
Find the right room, or make a new room.
“Never be the brightest person in the room; then you can’t learn anything.” — James Watson
Teach less, learn more. There is an exception, though.
“Stupidity is an extraordinary disease, it is not the patients themselves who suffer from it but the people around them.” — I have no idea who said this.
Some mistakes may have terrible consequences for third parties, possibly including the extinction of humanity. However, trying to convince someone with arguments when incentives push in the opposite direction is a futile attempt.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” — Upton Sinclair
Consider the incentives razor. Build a better alternative.
“If you want to spread an idea, write an essay that makes it easy to understand. If you want to spread an action, build a tool that makes it easy to do.” — James Clear
Argue less, learn more, build better.
HTH. Some things are worth reminding.
“The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius
Finally, Ray Dalio has made a business model of thinking correctly1. He has a lot of free content, you can start with these:
Much like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and so many others, each one of them with their own personal approach.
- Ray Dalio seems to be more interested in educating and is making some money out of it.
- Warren Buffett may be more quiet and more conscientious of his reputation, explanations are useful to preserve his reputation with transparency.
- Charlie Munger overshot in his attempt to be free to tell anyone how stupid they are, and therefore he does his own brand of mentoring when he freely chooses so.
Cross-posted from the Sigmoid newsletter
