Miguel Lima

“If you find out you were wrong about something, great—you’ve improved your map, and that can only help you.”
― Julia Galef, The Scout Mindset: The Perils of Defensive Thinking and How to Be Right More Often

“The problem with identity is that it wrecks your ability to think clearly. Identifying with a belief makes you feel like you have to be ready to defend it, which motivates you to focus your attention on collecting evidence in its favor. Identity makes you reflexively reject arguments that feel like attacks on you or the status of your group.”
― Julia Galef, The Scout Mindset: The Perils of Defensive Thinking and How to Be Right More Often

“Not all overconfidence is due to motivated reasoning. Sometimes we simply don’t realize how complicated a topic is, so we overestimate how easy it is to get the right answer. But a large portion of overconfidence stems from a desire to feel certain. Certainty is simple. Certainty is comfortable. Certainty makes us feel smart and competent.”
― Julia Galef, The Scout Mindset: The Perils of Defensive Thinking and How to Be Right More Often

“The best description of motivated reasoning I’ve ever seen comes from psychologist Tom Gilovich. When we want something to be true, he said, we ask ourselves, “Can I believe this?,” searching for an excuse to accept it. When we don’t want something to be true, we instead ask ourselves, “Must I believe this?,” searching for an excuse to reject it.4”
― Julia Galef, The Scout Mindset: The Perils of Defensive Thinking and How to Be Right More Often