nemorathwald (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nemorathwald) wrote2005-03-03 10:57 am
nemorathwald) wrote2005-03-03 10:57 am
Entry tags:
Old Person Brain
Have you heard of the folk wisdom that hardly anybody changes their mind after the age of thirty? At this point one's value set and view of the world is thought to be pretty much preserved in formaldehyde for life. Recently while having conversations about controversies I could feel my mental plasticity ossifying into "old person brain."
It does very little good to say things like "I might be wrong." That statement accomplishes very little to actually produce change because of course, I wouldn't be convinced of what I'm convinced of unless I was convinced of it. Saying I could be wrong doesn't change the overwhelming likelihood that I really am right. When I say that you should not jump off a skyscraper because you would die, just because I modestly acknowledge that a freak parade balloon could possibly break your fall does not change anything. Something more than modesty is required to keep mental plasticity. I think it requires a better kind of listening.
It does very little good to say things like "I might be wrong." That statement accomplishes very little to actually produce change because of course, I wouldn't be convinced of what I'm convinced of unless I was convinced of it. Saying I could be wrong doesn't change the overwhelming likelihood that I really am right. When I say that you should not jump off a skyscraper because you would die, just because I modestly acknowledge that a freak parade balloon could possibly break your fall does not change anything. Something more than modesty is required to keep mental plasticity. I think it requires a better kind of listening.