The Half-Life of Opinion

The half-life of knowledge is the amount of time that has to elapse before half of the knowledge in a particular area is superseded or shown to be untrue.

en.wikipedia.org...


How often are we wrong? How often are we proven wrong?

I know there are some who will state that they are never wrong and that their personal "half-life" of opinion and knowledge is very long.

My personal half-life is very short. I am constantly learning, growing, changing, evolving.


I think that it all comes down to, "We don't know it all, yet". No-one does. Not in any field. Sure, 1+1 will always equal 2. But the sciences are always being superseded with new aspects or discoveries.


What is your personal half-life of knowledge and/or opinion? Just curious, mind you. Not being nosy. I just heard this term a while back and thought I'd bring it to the fore.

It's kind of humbling, in my personal opinion.

beez

reply to post by beezzer


The eagerness to assert control over a circumstance is inverse to the amount of actual experience one has.

Nice idea, thank you for bringing it here, i guess i learn something new everyday and in reality that is the whole point of this principle.

Here is a nice read on the subject Be Forewarned: Your Knowledge is Decaying

I know in science the half life of things is pretty small, new knowledge is generated every day that don't disprove anything of the previous one but render it obsolete for presenting a better interpretation of reality.

And your half life of knowledge is not that short, you are highly valued around here.

reply to post by beezzer


You are right..we dont know it all...most of the things we argue on here are the unknown...thats why we talk about it...I had a religious debate on here where I once said no one knows if god is real....we are in the dark...I truley believe that...then another member kindly pointed out that it is fully possible someone would know for a fact that god exists...

It pissed me off at first thinking this guy is delusional...but the more I thought about it...who am I to say he hadn't had contact with god...or that someone hasn't....we work in the gray....and in the end my favorite part is if someone can persuade me or change my mind on a thought im strongly dug in at. The above is an example of just that....so my new statement would be...the majority of the population does not know if a god exists or not! Opinions....

reply to post by beezzer


I spent about a decade truly searching for answers. Before that, i spent 10 years "preparing myself" for that 10 year search. Funny how it worked out. Never purposefully meant for any of it to happen.

Essentially, it was the period in which I threw off the cloak of Christianity, and replaced it with nothing more than a loose understanding called "deism". I went from faith to faith, trying to find what would fill the gap left behind. And nothing seemed to make sense, so I would move on.

The half life of what I gained from that journey....itll likely never die. It may have a small amount of change, but it has been constant for quite some time. To a point that I quit searching, satisfied that I once again had equilibrium from the amalgamation of understanding I had created.

About 6 years ago, suddenly and a la minute, I determined to change my outlook on our military. Before that point I had encouraged both my kids to seek out military careers. The oldest chose not to, and went to Texas Tech. The youngest, developed interest in the things you see in a future soldier. Survival, marksmanship, etc, etc. One night I was sitting at a desk we had in our den, browsing the internet. My youngest son was sitting on the couch playing xbox. I looked at him, and at that moment had a clarity regarding our military.

I immediately changed my tune, and told him he should never join. Since that point, holidays where we celebrate our military have become days where I mourn the manipulation of our nations young men.

I guess what I am saying is, it depends. I have developed some frameworks that will stay with me forever, becoming processing grids in and of themselves. In other ways, especially politically and socially, it is an ever changing understanding. And it can change in the moment.

reply to post by beezzer


Good question and I do have a opinion on it and am sure it may vary one way or another over time .I am what you would call a school drop out . I was very frustrated in school . Later in life I wanted to educate myself .That's part of the reason I joined this site .I think like many have come to realize is that our educational system taught us what to learn , and not so much how to .Being indoctrinated and realizing it ,I had to go through a sort of reboot and one of the hardest things to learn was how to unlearn . I am not even sure if such a thing is possible but that is only the way I looked at it .I find that there is so much more one can learn about things unrelated to the subject matter on some threads and I never know what my tangents will lead me to from day to day . It's a fun journey .peace

greencmp
reply to post by beezzer

 

The eagerness to assert control over a circumstance is inverse to the amount of actual experience one has.

Sort of a denial of new information or a refusal to accept it?

Indigent
Nice idea, thank you for bringing it here, i guess i learn something new everyday and in reality that is the whole point of this principle.

Here is a nice read on the subject Be Forewarned: Your Knowledge is Decaying

I know in science the half life of things is pretty small, new knowledge is generated every day that don't disprove anything of the previous one but render it obsolete for presenting a better interpretation of reality.

And your half life of knowledge is not that short, you are highly valued around here.

A good point, and thanks!

But even I have changed since my first days here. My view (or opinion) has become much more libertarian and less conservative, the more I learn.

This kind of bears ode to my new found self.

I try to live life not only in the moment, but also in the future, forecasting and making preparations for what I think may come, yet still observing day to day occurrences from a middle ground. Obtaining all angles and making a logical and fact based opinion.

I feel if I continue this, It will not only allow me to be more prepared for my future, but also less surprised by changes in the now.

I'm fortunately still young, and therefore I'll hopefully be able to experience many more things in this existence.

I was raised Christian as well, and being put into a private (Lutheran) school for the majority of my education* definitely made me more well aware of different views.

*(K-8th) I only have a high school education, unfortunately, although I'm making arrangements to change this.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


reply to post by cosmicexplorer


Religion and military service.

Both are charged with opinions, but both also rely on faith.

In one, it is the faith that you are doing the right thing, and the other is faith that you are believing the right thing.

But both do have a half-life.

reply to post by beezzer


i am sure they do. But I am unable to quantify them individually, let alone on the whole.

"You must unlearn what you have learned." --Yoda, from "Empire Strikes Back"

reply to post by beezzer

But even I have changed since my first days here. My view (or opinion) has become much more libertarian and less conservative, the more I learn.

I'll hold off on giving you a congratulatory pat on the back until you've learned to completely stop using political labels to describe non-political mindsets.

... I'm thinking you've still got a long ways to go.





/facetiousness

reply to post by beezzer


Kind of a cool think to think about.... However...

My wife is never wrong... At best she was temporally misinformed.

As for me it's not so much learning what I thought of as fact, is not... it has everything to do with having grownup in a house full of boys and now that I find myself living with three girls (Wife and our Daughters) It's in the discovery of how much I simply did not know in regard's to the other half of the human population?

CranialSponge
reply to post by beezzer

 

But even I have changed since my first days here. My view (or opinion) has become much more libertarian and less conservative, the more I learn.

I'll hold off on giving you a congratulatory pat on the back until you've learned to completely stop using political labels to describe non-political mindsets.

... I'm thinking you've still got a long ways to go.

/facetiousness

Spoken like a true commie.

beezzer

CranialSponge
reply to post by beezzer

 

But even I have changed since my first days here. My view (or opinion) has become much more libertarian and less conservative, the more I learn.

I'll hold off on giving you a congratulatory pat on the back until you've learned to completely stop using political labels to describe non-political mindsets.

... I'm thinking you've still got a long ways to go.

/facetiousness

Spoken like a true commie.

Otherwise known as:

Smartassed-other-half-of-the-human-population.

beezzer

greencmp
reply to post by beezzer

 

The eagerness to assert control over a circumstance is inverse to the amount of actual experience one has.

Sort of a denial of new information or a refusal to accept it?

An informed maturity tempers impetuousness.

I'm always right.., except for when I am wrong, and sometimes I am so wrong I am almost right.

1+1 in base 2 never equals 2 =p

if and only if one is added to one in base 3 and above the answer would be 2