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Comment by ifwinterco | Hacker News Reader

I don’t think there’s any one thing or set of things you can read that will make you informed on all topics.

Human knowledge is siloed and you need to already be well-informed to judge the quality of information (this is the cause of the dunning-Kruger effect, if you’re really bad at something you lack the tools to understand just how bad you are).

So imo you have to accept you’ll always be ignorant of most topics and get comfortable with thinking “I don’t know”.

Within your own specific areas of competence you should be able to identify independent sources of information that add value and consume those while discarding the rest.

Also when it comes to politics and international affairs: no substitute for travel. Go to lots of places with different systems, talk to people and you will learn a lot more than you will from reading the economist

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> So imo you have to accept you’ll always be ignorant of most topics and get comfortable with thinking “I don’t know”.

Ok but I have to (or rather - I am expected to) vote on those topics. And not just during the elections or referendums, but also figuratively with my wallet and attention. In other words, my actions will be driven by how (mis)informed I am.

And even though I am comfortable with being ignorant, from my experience other people aren't comfortable with me being ignorant. Saying "I don't know, I haven't thought about it" is often met with shock if not anger. I don't have the luxury of dropping those people from my life either.

As for the travel, the perspective of a tourist is different from a person who lives there even for a few months, much less a few years. I agree it beats reading third-party summaries, but I don't think it gives you a much better clarity.

> Saying "I don't know, I haven't thought about it" is often met with shock if not anger. I don't have the luxury of dropping those people from my life either.

There's a softer middle ground. You could try to deflect or say that you'd rather not talk about it.

And honestly, it would be a pretty big issue for me if someone in my life got angry at me for saying "I don't know" or "I'm not sure".

Maybe it's the "I haven't thought about it part" that is triggering them? It sounds like you have thought about a lot of these things.. it's just that they are genuinely difficult in many cases.

But I hear you. I've had similar thoughts and struggle with it as well.

P.S. Btw, here's a big one: Finding common ground by agreeing on certain core facts or values is usually very appreciated. This alone can dissolve the tension much of the time, especially when done with humility and grace.

Yes in theory it should be easier to get on with people if you yourself don’t hold many strong opinions.

Unless of course you’re dealing with a zealot who gets angry if you do anything other than passionately agree with them, but there’s not much you can do in that case anyway

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