Losing my ego over the past several decades has been the best thing to happen to me. I think being wrong publicly has been the main cause of that.
Although I should point out that being wrong publicly for me began before internet comments — just making an uninformed comment in front of people smarter than me started that ball rolling. Perhaps it's one of those things where in the smaller circles when you are young you might be the most knowledgeable about a number of topics and so your ego believes you are an expert. But as you begin to move in circles of those with the same expertise you begin to see that there are many people much more knowledgeable and capable than you.
Learning to be more humble has been transformative for me. I listen a lot more than I used to. I make less acerbic comments online.
Nonetheless, like the blog post implies, if you offer no thoughts or opinions at all you will never get the chance to be proven wrong. If your ego is in check that can be an excellent learnable moment for you.
Relevantly, (and I can't remember what the rule is called) there's an internet rule that goes something like "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is to leave the wrong one." Not that you should intentionally provide false information, but just to your point that being wrong helps you to learn. Importantly, though, that's only if you're willing to accept that you're wrong.
Likewise, and also the inverse... Some of my posts are basically conversations I've had one too many times, or have been particularly roused by, e.g. that one time m'colleague stated he had nothing to speak about at a conference (also double-implying that he wasn't good enough to do it). Patently false! https://www.evalapply.org/posts/how-to-give-a-conference-tal...
That post was me sending a link to him, after that conversation, so neither of us forget. And guess what, where there is one, there are others. I've sent it to several people since!
Losing my ego over the past several decades has been the best thing to happen to me. I think being wrong publicly has been the main cause of that.
Although I should point out that being wrong publicly for me began before internet comments — just making an uninformed comment in front of people smarter than me started that ball rolling. Perhaps it's one of those things where in the smaller circles when you are young you might be the most knowledgeable about a number of topics and so your ego believes you are an expert. But as you begin to move in circles of those with the same expertise you begin to see that there are many people much more knowledgeable and capable than you.
Learning to be more humble has been transformative for me. I listen a lot more than I used to. I make less acerbic comments online.
Nonetheless, like the blog post implies, if you offer no thoughts or opinions at all you will never get the chance to be proven wrong. If your ego is in check that can be an excellent learnable moment for you.