Mind reading

This is not original material, but I guess most of our thoughts and ideas are influenced by others. If the concept intrigues you, checkout Loserthink by Scott Adams. Very interesting read.

Humans are notoriously bad at figuring out what other people are thinking. If you disagree, try being married. My wife and I have a fantastic marriage and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well after 10 years together. But I almost never know what she is thinking. I’d say maybe 30% of the time. And that is my most intimate relationship. Maybe I’m just an unobservant jerk, but my wife isn’t, and she probably only gets me right about 60% of the time.

And yet we try reading the minds of total strangers with throw away lines because that is easier than civil debate. “She’s just a socialist” or “he’s a racist” is easier than “She is trying to figure out a way to help people and I happen to have a different opinion of what works” or “He wants to protect our borders for a host of legitimate national security reasons that I simply feel are overstated.”

What are the odds that everyone on the opposite side of the political aisle are the most extreme version of who you don’t like? Maybe they aren’t and you just think you can read minds when you can’t. That is probably way more likely than a Republican being Hitler or a Democrat being Mao.