Benefit of the doubt
•1 min read
- It is 1,000x easier to criticize than to build.
- Critical thinking is not looking for trivial holes in an idea; that's just lazy.
- Doing anything novel is hard.
- People doing novel work deserve the benefit of the doubt, unless proven guilty.
- Critics with no skin in the game deserve the benefit of skepticism, unless proven insightful.
- Poking holes is good; poking holes and filling them is better.
- If you can't improve on the silence, don't break it.
- Questions to ask before criticizing:
- "What would have to be true for this to work?"
- "What's the strongest version of this idea?"
- "What would I do instead?"