How our preferences are tied in to our opinions

Opinion

Opinions are derived from preferences. You may prefer to go it alone. Others want us to support one another as a group. You may prefer to share when it suits you to share rather than be forced to share. That is a fundamental difference in preference. That difference in preference leads to a difference in opinion about how a society should operate. Some want us to share all we have with the rest of society. Others do not want to be forced into sharing with all; their family is their priority.

Different strategy, different outcome. We can show why each strategy works better than others. We have reliable proven methodology. Some strategies are more efficient than others. Some strategies win more and win more often. However, the outcome we each want may differ and so opinions will differ as to what strategy we ought to employ. Group strategies strangle the individual. People wanting to deploy an alternative strategy will describe the group as sheep, all following the herd. Herd mentality may prevail, but sheep do not bunch together very often. They scatter across the fields, grazing where they feel like grazing. They only bunch together when corralled.

People huddle together and work as a gang. They may use the safety in numbers principle. As the huddling commences some will make a dash for it. Those that make a dash for it and run from the group will feel like the odd ones out. They are not complicit. The complicit ones act as a gang, ganging up on the few that want to go their own way. The more in the gang the more pressure they can apply on those not joining them.

Does water boil at 100 degrees Celsius. Maybe. The boiling point maybe just 70 degrees when high up a mountain as the altitude affects the boiling point. This can catch many out that assume that boiling water will make it safe to drink. Not all germs will be killed at 70 degrees. The belief that water freezes at zero degrees Celsius is false if it is salty. Scientific facts are only correct in precise circumstances. The more variables, the more things lend themselves to opinion not fact. You should never waste food say some. Fair point? Under that logic not finishing your meal is wasting food, but what if you leave some to avoid over-eating and getting fat?

If you are to take one thing from this chapter, remember the word opinion. People make opinion seem like fact. It may not be. Deep-seated opinion destroys relationships. Deep-seated opinion divides us. What is best – best for who. Hence, deciding what we should do, depends on who and what we care about the most.