“There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.”

If we really want to understand the world around us, we must learn.  But there is no learning in only talking to people who agree with us.  Yet, this is what most people do.  This is particularly evident today in Americans’ choice of their news outlets.

The predisposition to seek out those who validate our pre-existing opinions appears to be based on our fundamental psychology.  A recent [study] found that our innate need for validation overrides our desire to have factual information.

It is something everyone should work to overcome.  In a recent post I reviewed Hans Rosling’s book, Factfulness, in which he addresses this point.  “And rather than talking only to people who agree with you . . . seek people who contradict you, disagree with you, and put forward different ideas as a great resource understanding the world.”

Montaigne put it somewhat more pithily: “It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.”

Try it.  You might like it.