Starting with some hopefully-self-evident ideas, I hope to show that we have the power to become smarter by sheer acts of will.
This post is about laying some groundwork, starting with the obvious:
We value some things more than others.
When you care more about something, you prioritize it above something you care less about.
Obvious, right? True by definition.
We do this all the time, without even feeling it. If you decide to heat up leftovers in the microwave instead of going out, it might be because you care less about taste, and care more about convenience or saving money.
Hundreds of times per day, without a second thought, we’re giving up what we care less about, in order to get what we care more about.
We value each thing a certain amount.
For everything we value, there is a real line somewhere, dividing the costs we are willing to pay from the costs we are unwilling to pay.
Would you pay $60 for a cheeseburger? Probably not.
Perhaps you’d pay $8, maybe $9 for a cheeseburger.
That’s the edge of your budget for that burger — that’s “the line.” Even though you decide where that line is, and there’s nothing physically preventing you from spending $60 on it, your line is really, actually — objectively — around $8.50.
The act of valuing is a subjective judgment, which we objectively make.
If it costs $9.50 or more, you objectively won’t pay, objectively won’t obtain the burger, and thus objectively prefer to have your money rather than the burger.
I am belaboring this, but if you’ve ever traded crypto or stocks you’re familiar with the objective valuation of an asset. All I’m saying is this is true in recesses of the heart where there are no stock markets.
Our actions reveal what that amount is.
There’s often a difference between what our values objectively are, and what we think and say they are. I’ve met many a raving lunatic who says he’s really serious about changing the world, while refusing to even change his socks.
The difference between us and that guy is only one of degree.
Here’s the Point
To recap:
We value some things more than others.
We objectively value things a certain amount.
Our actions tell us how much we value things — and if we don’t value something, we won’t obtain it.
In each of those statements, replace things with truth:
We value some things more than truth.
We objectively value truth a certain amount.
Our actions tell us how much we value truth — and if we don’t value truth, we won’t obtain it.
There is really, actually, objectively a line somewhere, above which the truth costs us more than we can handle.
Above it, we’ll take the lie, thank you very much.
And when it comes to truth-seeking, humans are very bad at being honest with ourselves about where our “line” is.
We tend to overestimate. We valiantly declare, “Truth at any cost, even my very life!” — but then we’re not even willing to embarrass ourselves a little bit!
When the decision comes to either feel like a fool by discovering we’re wrong, or allow ourselves to be deceived, we very often choose the latter.
You probably know this already — so why did I spent 15 minutes of your time belaboring it anew?
Because even though we all understand this, most intellectuals fail to follow this knowledge to its logical conclusion: When it comes to truth-seeking, improving what we “objectively value” is far more important than improving what we “objectively know.”
To be concise: Our knowledge depends on our values.
Doesn’t this sound ridiculous?