Ask HN: Unpopular ideas that you believe in and why?

[galfarragem]

Sunday is a good day to challenge your assumptions. So I ask you unpopular ideas that you believe in and why do you believe them. HN is full of smart people,

I start...

I believe in the idea of secession. When the spectrum of beliefs becomes too wide, reaching a consensus can be impossible or established through force. A division of 80% versus 20% is fundamentally different from a close call like 52% versus 48%. In such cases, secession — whether literal or figurative — should be considered. It allows competing ideas to thrive independently, even if the "logistics" of a secession are scary. A classic example is the division of East and West Germany, though the scale can vary.

edit: You can generalise and/or use a throw away account.

[big-green-man]

I believe that about half of people are unremarkable. All human beings have the potential to be remarkable I think, but for some reason or other, upbringing, exposure to ideas, conditioning, whatever, that half aren't remarkable at all. It is very difficult to tell which people you meet are this way,remarkableness is not a constant, people have talents that they hide because they're self conscious, because they're none of your business or whatever reason, or just contextually, you'll never see it, like a guitar virtuoso you only ever see when hes scanning your groceries at Walmart.

Additionally, because there are public social norms and people are reserved about demonstrating any talents they may have, many of those privately remarkable people won't appear so to anyone outside. So to all of us, it appears that the majority of people are unremarkable.

For this reason, I believe that going along with what is expected, what the norm is, going with the flow, is almost always a losing proposition. Doing what most people do is a sure ticket to mediocrity. But just doing things because everyone else does not is not a ticket to happiness either, you have to use reason and understand what is good for yourself, period, there's no silver bullet to greatness. I think everyone that can do this should do this, differentiate themselves how they please, without harming others or themselves of course.

[PaulHoule]

Last time I answered that question honestly I got kicked out of a web site. No thanks.

[bartonfink]

It is both possible and simple to outrun your fork. Anyone who says it is impossible has never made a serious attempt.

[illuminant]

We are not alone in alone in our own minds. There is a secret culture, a secret governance, and a secret war upon us all. This has always been among us (one in six of us know exactly what I'm talking about, however you will be punished for speaking of this greatest taboo.) These "thought control" us, in a meddlesome immoral and lawless ways, and are responsible for much of the insanity plaguing our world.