So let’s start with a simple fact: all humans have bias. All of them. Me, you, your favorite economist, all humans, hell maybe even whales.
Another one: we will always have bias, as each human is unique and has a subjective point of view. OK, we stated the bleeding obvious. What now? What can we do about it? Not much, but we can try to be aware of our bias and attempt to minimize it.
It is very hard to know what you don't know, to realize your biases or to avoid engaging in excessive rationalization when your views are challenged. It is easy to unconsciously skip over uncomfortable argument or information, or immerse yourself in an ideological bubble. It is way too easy to suffer from cognitive dissonance, basically hold opposing ideas at the same time, as long as you don’t challenge your views.
And you definitely should challenge your views, before anyone else has the chance to. I mean, you don’t want to be caught with bad arguments while yelling drunk at friends in a pub on Friday night, do you?
I fancy myself a rational and clear-headed thinker, but I know that is not completely true. Sure, I may be smarter, better informed, more rational and better looking than any other human in history, but, alas, I am but human nonetheless. As such, I do my best to critically analyze and to clarify my ideas. Blogging on steemit is the obvious way to do it, but, in the darker, more primitive times before steemit, I started simply by keeping a text file on my computer in which I write down my views and periodically review them to see how the hold.
It is easy, in the age of the Internet, to read a lot of things, but it also helps to think about what you read and try to understand. Writing helps with this endeavor. What also helps is taking some time to just reflect, think things over. There will always be more to read, but you should process what you already know, otherwise it won’t do much good. Spend some time with your ideas, not just others'. Find a quiet hour or two, when not doing something else. Except what I write , you should always read that. Goes without saying really.
I remember even in University it was sometimes easier to understand things writing them down, rather than just reading a book.
I started this when I was arguing about something and realized I do have opposite ideas at the same time, and just thinking about it didn’t get me anywhere. Politics, philosophy, economy, morality, life, beer are too complex as subject to be able to hold them in your mind at any given time. You may think you can do it, but it is unlikely. Too many people, in my experience, hold very strong views without taking the time to write them down and properly think about them.
The second thing that convinced me to write was that I had things that I simply could not resolve. Not just opposing ideas, but no clear idea at all about certain issues. Morality was a big one, how objective can it get? I wrote 6 or 7 posts on steemit about it, and it is still just the surface of things.
Steeming, commenting and such does not hurt. Feedback is always good. But I recommend writing the equivalent of 50 pages or so mainly for yourself, regardless of how many read or comment. Not all at once, over time. A page here, a page there. 50 as a guideline you can do 100 equivalent or more if the case presents itself. Do not think of this as your future published book or something to show friends or other stemians, but as something you do for you. If others gain something as well from it, even better.
After writing you should occasionally reread it and see if it is self-contradictory, if ideas on one post and ideas on another cannot both be right. Try counter arguments your own views. Check the internal logic of things. See if the principles are clear and consistent, otherwise why have them?
After a few months later, reread what you wrote. Do you still believe the same? Or did things change. I assume this will depend on age and how strong your views may be to begin with, but if at the start of things no changes whatsoever appear, that should give pause for though. Unless you opinions were somehow perfect – they never are – some bit of change will appear over time.
After a few more months … you know what to do. It is an iterative process. When the changes become small over several cycles - after a repeated process of analyzing your writing in a thorough fashion, you may have reached a bit of a stable view of the world. Good or bad, there is a chance some though went into it. If you thought about it, that is.
In my experience not enough people do this simple exercise. You may be quite surprised by the result. I know I was. Does this in anyway mean you are right? Well no. First of all it means that I am right, and so are you if you think like me.
Also, difference of opinion will still exist, bias, ideology, dissonance the whole shebang. But it will give you a better chance of being more consistent. More clear-headed. It is not just about the end result, but the process. The attempt to at least reach some coherent conclusion or other. And that’s not nothing. Or maybe it is nothing. What do I know?