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How is that refreshing? This has basically been the natural state of human thinking until maybe around the enlightenment. People used to just say things like "all is water" or "all is fire" in very principled assertive ways all the time.

What I find refreshing is the tiny tiny tiny percentage of people that treat their beliefs like a probability distribution that they update very frequently with new empirical and analytic information.

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But we're not talking about a mis-evaluation of facts or insufficient data to form a proper conclusion. The core belief here is along the lines of "data should not be constrained, and my access and usage of data is nobody's business but mine".

People say things like, "all software should be free" but continue to pay the bills by working for a non-free company. They say, "I think DRM is wrong" but many will still buy DRM'd content when they want it badly enough.

Coming across someone who holds a firm, clearly defined belief (again, regardless of whether I agree with the belief - that's not related to the point I'm trying to make) and who also adheres to that belief in all aspects of life - that's the refreshing thing.

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