Thread by @heydave7

Interesting essay by @paulg about how to be an independent-minded person vs a conventional-thinking person.

He shares some interesting angles but I think he’s missing some key pieces. Here’s a thread of some initial thoughts.

First, independent-minded people have unique values that value/treasure independent thinking and independence over following the crowd. Sometimes those values might be innate and sometimes they might be learned. Or a combo.

One example of the value being learned is when young a person might see gross abuse of conventional thinking or behavior, and concludes they want to avoid that outcome.

In other words, a value for independent-minded needs to be formed somehow.

The value for independent-minded thinking is not enough though. The person needs to discover the power of thoughts and it’s impact on behavior, groups and society.

The person realizes that conventional thinking is lazy and caps potential, and is often profoundly damaging.

The independent-minded person also learns that thoughts that are true have superpower because not only can they influence like other thoughts but can do so in profoundly good ways

Also truth builds on truth, so it gets easier to see and know truth once you build the foundation.

So the independent-minded person eventually values the quality of their thinking in an abnormal fashion. They become obsessed with finding treasures of truth that are “hidden” from the conventional mind because it opens up a whole new universe of possibilities and good.

I’ve never met a deeply independent-thinking person who did not have a deep criticism and sadness over the compliance-focused system and institutions that teach and raise our kids.

This is people the obsession of compliance in our culture kills values for independent thinking.

This is why the truly independent-minded are often seen as rebels against the system. They aren’t rebelling for rebellious sake. Rather, they see ingrained values in society that are completely incompatible with the very values they hold core in their beliefs.

Most truly “independent-minded” people could care less about being labeled as an independent thinker. That’s not the focus. The focus is much more practical and not for show. The benefits are deeply personal and that is the far greater motivation.

Ah, forgot to link to the essay by @pg that I started this thread mentioning. 😆

paulgraham.com/think.html

Also I should clarify this thread isn’t a summary of @paulg’s essay but rather an explanation of some things I found lacking (or at least not emphasized) in his essay on how to learn to think for yourself.

Hard to find independent thinkers, so grateful for his essay to discuss.