Wednesday, October 6, 2021

On diversity and dissent...........................

 One of the frequent themes in On Liberty is the importance of diversity of opinion.  Diversity and dissent are not only checks on fallibility, but the only means of testing the ultimate truth of an opinion:  "The only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind.  No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this; not is it in the nature of human intellect to become wise in any other matter."

-Annie Duke, as culled from Thinking in Bets:  Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

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