Almost All Ideas Are Wrong

So, now what?

“Almost all ideas are wrong, so attack them with everything you have in your arsenal and see if they can survive. That is the real essence of critical thinking.”

The great cosmic joke is that this reality is a strange loop that cannot be fully comprehended. Yet, our society attempts to reduce almost every question to a yes or no answer.

Republicans and Democrats ask, “Are you on my side?”

“Should all drugs be legalized?”

“Am I a good person?”

These seem like incomplete questions that can lead to wrong ideas and ideologies, until perspective can be expanded to transcend the question.

The first time I heard Jordan Peterson’s “almost all ideas are wrong” statement came from his debate with Slavoj Zizek on the topic of Happiness: Marxism vs Capitalism. Good debate, ironic choice of topic.

From the The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff:

“Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you've got.”

I like this idea.