Keep Your Identity Small — Paul Graham

Paul Graham realized why politics and religion (and sometimes programming) produce uniquely useless discussions: they engage people's identities.

Religion on forums degenerates because people feel no need for expertise — all they need are strongly held beliefs. "On religion everyone's an expert." The same happens with politics. No threshold of expertise is required to have an opinion.

One possible cause is questions without definite answers, so no back pressure. But even precise political questions suffer the same fate.

The real common factor is that these topics become part of people's identity. By definition they are partisan. "When people say a discussion has degenerated into a religious war, what they really mean is that it has started to be driven mostly by people's identities."

Which topics trigger identity depends on the people, not the topic. A Bronze Age battle discussion stays civil today because no one has a side. The same discussion involving citizens of the modern countries would turn political immediately. "No one would know what side to be on."

Programming languages can also become religious when programmers identify as "X programmers."

A thread about Javascript will not grow as fast as one about religion because people feel they have to be over some threshold of expertise. On identity topics, sensing that every opinion is equally valid, everyone lets fly with theirs.

Conclusion: a fruitful discussion is possible only if the topic does not engage the identities of the participants.

The most intriguing implication: if identity prevents clear thinking and the ability to change your mind, then the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible. "The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you."

Some labels may be net wins (e.g. "scientist"), but best treated as a placeholder like NMI on a form — committed only to following evidence, not to any particular conclusion.

See its place in the generalist reading list: a-reading-list-for-generalists-dylan-bowman.

Core idea captured in keep-your-identity-small.