I met this girl in college who was president of a club called the Effective Altruists. I was interested in her, not so much because I found the philosophy itself compelling, but because I spent all my free time on purely social pursuits, and I was curious what kind of person would spend their time on some pseudo-philosophical semi-philanthropic club endeavor. She didn’t do it performatively either, as she would espouse opinions which certainly sounded harsh on the ears.
“Sweatshops are a good thing in poor countries.”1
“Sweatshops- where they work people to death?”
“The alternative in these countries is equally difficult farm work. They’re able to earn far more money in the sweatshops than they are with their rural parents. There’s a reason so many parents in these countries try really hard to get their kids jobs in these factories.”
“I… I mean I feel like sweatshops just aren’t good”
That was really all I had to say at the time. I still feel that way to this day, that there’s something inherently disgusting about Apple or Nike setting up a factory in a third world country and employing children, even if those families want their children to be there. But it was thought provoking from her, and for lack of a better term, a really good hot take.
However, as I said, part of my interest with her wasn’t just with the opinions themselves, but with what kind of person would dedicate their free time to a formalized version of this.
“So you enjoy presiding over the Effective Altruists?” (Heavily implying that hanging out in my fraternity and improving at Spike Ball was a much better use of time)
“I think the world would be a much better place if everyone thought like us. We would waste less money on Make a Wish and spend that on Malaria Nets”2
This triggered a thought in my head for the first time. “If everyone thought like us.” Sounded simple enough but is that the goal of every modern thought movement? Full assimilation? Everyone begins to believe what you do?
“So you would want everyone in the world to believe these things?”
“Yeah I think I would. The world would be a better place.”
“Everyone? 100%?”
“Yes. We would be able to save millions. You wouldn’t?”
I paused. As I said, I hadn’t considered this thought before. Plus realistically, I just had a lot less conviction in my beliefs than she did. I began to piece together the thought that I still hold to this day, although probably more incoherently than what I am about to write here.
“I think I’d want the percent of the world who believes in something to roughly match the percent of how confident I am in a belief myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well for example, I’m about 60% sure that capitalism with some socialist elements is the best system to set up a society, so I’d be comfortable with only 60% of people also thinking that. I’d want some push back. I’m 99.999% sure the world is round. So I would want roughly that percent of people to believe it is as well.”
“You’re not 100% sure the Earth is round?”
“Well I mean I’ve never been to space. I know there’s mathematical proofs but I’ve never done them myself. But I just said I’m 99.999% sure! That’s a very high percentage!”
Maybe I’m the weird one for not having the convictions to be able to use 100% freely3. I really don’t think there is much I’m 100% confident in however, and that’s not to say that I live my life in any way accounting for the Earth also being flat, but more so that I leave a small microscopic piece of my brain open to the idea that if tomorrow someone flew me into space and I looked down on a disc shaped flat Earth, my brain matter wouldn’t melt out of my ears. I’d be able to at that point change my opinion, which again, I don’t think is going to happen!
This night was not some life-changing moment, but I’ve considered this conversation many times in the years since, often with the thought in mind that some other people really do want everyone else to think like them.
It makes full sense if you read interactions online, where posters rage at each other for having opposite beliefs. I generally don’t feel much anger towards a person who doesn’t share my opinion, usually allowing for the fact that this person makes up the percentage of people who are allocated to disagree.
Sure, sometimes I have frustration when I feel the world vastly does not reflect my own internal beliefs. I was shocked at the majority who believed Euphoria was a good show, when I was 90% sure it was awful (the tide really has turned on this one however, #vindicated). Not enough people have revolted against the disgusting decline of fast casual restaurants, meaning they can continue with their low standards and high prices, despite me banging the drum on this for several years. Yet even in these cases, they are frustrations on aggregate, and not ones I particularly feel towards any single individual.
I do believe this is the healthiest way to model your view of the world, and to accept that not everyone will agree with you. My mind has changed on many topics since this college conversation, and I’m not sure I would have had these changes of heart without the existence of those who disagree. Fittingly however, I think I’m only about 85% sure of all of this… meaning I hope only 85% of you agree.
1 All of these quotes are to the best of my memory… so take them with a grain of salt. I did not have a recording device in this girl’s apartment, and truthfully I had this whole conversation with an attempt at getting laid playing in the back of my mind.
2 I remember discussing this one with her a few times, and if I recall correctly, if the money which went toward Make a Wish was instead diverted towards Malaria Nets, millions of lives could be saved- just for context that this didn’t fully come out of nowhere.
3 I don’t know if this type of woman would find this fence sitter attitude very appealing, and this probably severely hurt my aforementioned pursuit of getting laid.