Julia Galef on Openness, Bias, and Rationality
- jeanne7629
- May 19
- 2 min read
Updated: May 30
I honestly didn’t think would enjoy this episode, but I gave it a go anyway because that’s what Think Again is about. Listening to the other side. And I say “other side” because I have this quiet resistance to too much rationality. It feels absurd to try to live in or understand the world without also considering emotion, intuition, and the messy irrational bits of being human.
So I assumed Julia Galef would be one of those hyper-rational types arguing that emotions are nonsense and we should all be "cold scientists" who only deal in facts. And just like that, my bias was showing.
But that’s not what she does at all.
Galef is a strong defender of rationality, but not against emotions. She defends it against, well, total nonsense. Her version of rationality is far more grounded and human than I expected.
A few things that stood out for me:
I’d never heard of the “graph of despair” before. It’s a surprisingly counter-intuitive finding that shows intelligence and knowledge don’t actually protect you from motivated reasoning.
This quote hit home: “Our judgment isn't limited by knowledge nearly as much as it's limited by attitude.”
Galef introduces the idea of the Scout Mindset, which is all about forming the most accurate map of reality you can. Not defending a fixed position, but exploring what’s really there.
She’s also refreshingly realistic. Being a scout doesn’t mean constantly doubting everything. It’s about doing your best, in the moment, with what you’ve got.
One of the most practical ideas: A scout mindset includes being able to accurately portray the views of those you disagree with. That’s rare, and we should all practice that more.
Another thing I appreciated: her gentle rewrite of Paul Graham’s idea of “keep your identity small”. Galef reframes it as “hold your identity lightly”. A softer, more “workable" approach. You don’t have to let go of your values or labels entirely, but you stay open to rethinking them. Her example was “I’ll identify as a feminist up until the point when I think feminism is causing harm.” That, to me, is what thinking again looks like.
I’ll stop here because this commentary is getting too long, but there’s so much good stuff in this one. Have a listen!
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