“Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” — Paul Tillich (uncited)
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell
( Shlomi Fish thinks that having doubts likely plays a part in making people wiser.)
Shlomi Fish:
A lecture or two ago, when Guy Keren was saying that linux would never ever be a gaming platform i tried to point out he was wrong, and it's actually doing OK, and everyone looked at me like i'm crazy.
Some rules of thumb I tweeted about recently:
- If someone tells you something is impossible and you can't do it, it probably can be done.
- If someone tells you something will *surely* never happen, it likely can happen.
- If someone tells you are an idiot and are definitely wrong, then you probably uncovered an Elephant in the Room and are right. Also see “Encourage criticism and try to get offended”.
In general, people who are sure of themselves are probably wrong, as I am not even sure of the Aristotlean Logic which got us incredibly far.