"These sorts of people" is an interesting way to distance ourselves from this, as though we the tech-enlightened were somehow hardened against weaving our reasoning through the maze so that it reaches our predetermined conclusion.
I actually caught myself doing this last week while I was writing a response to a HN comment. I was emotionally invested in my assertion (that fat people are fat because they overeat, rather than the overeating being a symptom of some people's propensity to store more fat). It started out with constructing an argument that satisfied my conclusion, and each time I encountered some thought-roadblock, I diverted traffic down an alternate street. After several times of doing this, it dawned on me just how disingenuous this entire process was becoming, so I decided the better attitude is that of a fence sitter: committed to hearing future arguments from both sides -- made by people who are smarter than I, no less -- and then deciding which argument was more convincing.
It's been said in many ways by many authors, but this has helped me: "Imagine everyone is enlightened, except you. Then try to figure out what they were sent to teach you."
I actually caught myself doing this last week while I was writing a response to a HN comment. I was emotionally invested in my assertion (that fat people are fat because they overeat, rather than the overeating being a symptom of some people's propensity to store more fat). It started out with constructing an argument that satisfied my conclusion, and each time I encountered some thought-roadblock, I diverted traffic down an alternate street. After several times of doing this, it dawned on me just how disingenuous this entire process was becoming, so I decided the better attitude is that of a fence sitter: committed to hearing future arguments from both sides -- made by people who are smarter than I, no less -- and then deciding which argument was more convincing.