Losing Faith In Contrarianism
Let’s take the opposite side of the coin here and see how it plays out ethically.
Lawrence Yeo • Speculation: A Game You Can’t Win
This brings me to the single most obvious notion that correct contrarians grasp, and that people who have vastly overestimated their own competence don’t realize: It takes far less work to identify the correct expert in a pre-existing dispute between experts, than to make an original contribution to any field that is remotely healthy.
Eliezer Yudkowsky • Inadequate Equilibria
When too many people try to adopt the contrarian position at once, it’s no longer contrarian. Mavericks become the new consensus-following herd. If everyone tries to outsmart each other by adopting novel or obscure contrarian positions, it leads to player-versus-player environments where the froth and chop of memetic war makes winning even harder.
Drew Austin • The Culture of Cope
a greater detriment with our escalating progression toward the opposite extremity—the increasingly common ideology that assures people they’re right about what they believe.