“How do you decide if you have a great insight or if you’re just crazy?” I accept the fact that the people who don't agree with me will call me crazy. As far as who determines if I have great insight, you are looking for an imaginary line in the sand.
Last night I watched a documentary on a famous successful rock star. My first thought was that all really successful people are obsessive compulsive people. They dance along that imaginary fine line between genius and insanity.
Why were so many great musicians die so young, killed directly, or indirectly, by drugs? And others of that same generation are celebrating birthday into their 80s.
Let's talk about great innovators, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, are names you've heard. Do some people call them great innovators as well as obsessive compulsive jerks? Did they have great insight? Were their ideas considered crazy by people who didn't believe in them?
“How do you decide if you have a great insight or if you’re just crazy?”
When someone calls me crazy, I say thank you.
I've been making new friends and sharing ideas online since the 1990s. My online experiences have really helped me to learn new perspectives, and at times see how my perspective was biased based on my personal space in the world.
The one thing I've come to realize is that it is not always a matter of who's right and who's wrong. It's a matter of understanding perspectives. The most dangerous bias of all is confirmation bias, where people look for someone that shares their opinion and uses that to strengthen their views. The mentality of saying, see this guy agrees with me, so I must be right, is what often causes myths and misinformation on the internet. When you ask a question, stand back and really be able to listen to all the answers, and take the time to understand the perspectives of all the answers.
The most dangerous bias of all is confirmation bias, where people look for someone that shares their opinion and uses that to strengthen their views. The mentality of saying, see this guy agrees with me, so I must be right, is what often causes myths and misinformation on the internet. When you ask a question, stand back and really be able to listen to all the answers, and take the time to understand the perspectives of all the answers.
I don't see how changing your mind on something important or controversial can feel like weakness. I see it as a strength, a part of becoming a better person.