The High Cost of Being Right: Why Certainty is the Enemy of Growth

We are essentially running 21st-century software on hardware designed for the Stone Age.

You notice that while stubbornness might have kept us from eating the wrong berry 10,000 years ago, that same "wiring" now keeps us from making smart investments today.

We are born stubborn. 

From an evolutionary standpoint, that trait is a feature, not a bug. 

In a world of predators and scarcity, sticking to what you knew was safe and refusing to deviate, was a survival mechanism. 

But there is a second trait that has hitched a ride alongside our survival instincts: willful ignorance.

While stubbornness provides stability, our modern tendency to form concrete opinions on subjects we haven’t studied is a recipe for stagnation. 

We are losing the art of listening, and with it, the flexibility required to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

The Echo Chamber of the Uninformed

The "Xerox copy" effect is real. If everyone in a room has the same opinion, nobody is actually thinking. 

We see this most clearly in the realms of politics, dogma, and perhaps most destructively finance.

I recently witnessed a conversation between several individuals discussing cryptocurrency and the stock market. 

The consensus was immediate and aggressive:

• "It’s fake currency."
• "It’s just gambling." 

When I dug deeper, the reality was startling. Not one of them owned these assets. 

Not one of them knew anyone who had successfully built wealth through them. 

Most tellingly, when asked how they formed such a rigid opinion without any data, the room went silent.

They weren't defending a fact; they were defending a feeling.

Why Our Brains Choose "Stupid"

You might wonder why we are wired for this "stupidity." Psychologically, it’s often a mix of two things:

1. Contempt Prior to Investigation: Dismissing an idea before learning about it saves the brain from the "metabolic cost" of thinking. It’s easier to say "it's a scam" than to read a whitepaper or study a market trend.
2. Cognitive Dissonance: Admitting that something like Bitcoin or the S&P 500 could be a legitimate path to wealth would mean admitting that their current "stagnated" path might be wrong. To protect their ego, the brain rejects the new information.

The Path Forward: Intellectual Flexibility

The world doesn't need more Xerox copies of uninformed opinions. 

It needs people who are willing to be wrong.

If you find yourself dismissing an idea, whether it’s a new technology, a political shift, or an investment strategy ask yourself three questions:

• Do I have first-hand experience with this?
• Have I studied the data from a neutral source?
• Am I refusing to listen because I’m right, or because I’m afraid of being wrong?

The Bottom Line

A stagnated life ends the moment you become willing to listen to real facts. 

Growth requires the humility to realize that your "internal wiring" is often lying to you to keep you comfortable.

Stop being certain, and start being curious. 

The distance between where you are and where you want to be is usually measured by the facts you are currently ignoring.

 

A few "Real Facts" to consider.

• On Stocks: Historically, the S&P 500 has returned an average of about 10% annually over the long term. Dismissing it as "gambling" ignores a century of data on compound interest.
• On Crypto: While volatile, blockchain technology is being integrated by major global central banks and financial institutions (like BlackRock and Fidelity). It has moved past the "fake" stage into a legitimate asset class.
• On Psychology: The Dunning-Kruger Effect explains why people with the least knowledge about a subject often have the highest confidence in their (incorrect) opinions.