I’m amazed at the quality of discussion here. Usually TH-cam comment sections are cesspools of self-righteousness and inflammatory devisiveness for ego-inflating purposes. Pretty cool how you two found common ground.
Religious people are often very clever with how they wordsmith. It's all sleight of hand though. I remember some spiritual guru saying something like "Atonement is really just At-One-Ment" and everyone gasped with amazement at such "wisdom". Another new age television guy once said "Relax, you're going nowhere---have you ever noticed? Nowhere is really just Now Here" And again everyone gasped in amazement at such insight. But it's all a hustle and a con... I once was a huge fan of CS Lewis as a teen. Not anymore. It is unfortunate that he wasted his life elucidating [and convoluting all the more] a mere fantasy. I say that with the utmost respect as a former fan who read [I believe] every single thing he wrote...I prefer the guy who replied below with an actual definition from the dictionary. it's clearer and much more realistic. Selflessness is an illusion. When we die. That's when we have no self to consider. Until then, you SHOULD think of yourself first. Just don't be a dick about it, that's all. Let others in on some of the good stuff you get to enjoy. You need your self in order to do anything in life. Therefore, selfishness is not a lack of humility; but having one foot firmly planted in reality. And if somebody does that well enough, they cannot help but recognize how insignificant they are and how insufficient what they know is in the big picture---THAT'S humility. Not thinking LESS of one's self. But keeping one's self in its proper place amidst all the other selves in the world. Sorry for the long comment. Just HAD to say something.
Chris ~ A non-magical person goes into a cave and turns first into a monster then a hero. Lewis's Eustace allegorizes the vice of his own atheism (a 'straw man'), but Tolkien gives Gollum virtous counterparts (edit: a 'steel man') in the Shire folk. Thinking of one's self less can lead to forgetting one's own name. "...men are continually tending to undervalue their environment, to undervalue their happiness, to undervalue themselves. The great sin of mankind, the sin typified by the fall of Adam, is the tendency, not towards pride, but towards this weird and horrible humility. This is the great fall, the fall by which the fish forgets the sea, the ox forgets the meadow, the clerk forgets the city, every man forgets his environment and, in the fullest and most literal sense, forgets himself." [G.K.Chesterton- The Defendant] www.lingq.com/lesson/introduction-93201/
I like your comment. It makes me think of this "Act as if the future of the world depends upon what you do, all the while laughing at yourself for thinking you can make a difference"
For me, humility is being able to understand the depth of one's own ignorance and foolishness. It isn't being afraid of arrogance, and I think it's absolutely possible and vital to a person's growth of character to have both humility and confidence.
It's easy to be humble and nice when we're in our comfort zones. We just need to be triggered in the right spot and we quickly become f*cking devils at the snap of a finger.
I'm not very humble, but then again, I prefer doing something I'm good at, like bragging. I find bragging brought me precisely what I want in life, but alas, I don't think many people would be capable of attaining that necessary threshold of quality brags themselves so I wouldn't give the advice without warning. You know it takes a lot of dedication to get this good, and it's a lonely road to get there. I now get to rest on my laurels, though, no thanks to all that hardship.
I think there are some semantic issues at play here. It depends on how you define humility. If you define it as "not confident in one's ability" then sure this makes sense. You could call that timidity or even shame or depression. Remember the people who use that word tend to be religious and I think they would define it more like "to know that this confidence is coming through you, not from you". And in beliving that they will not subordinate the truth to their ego. To me arrogence runs the risk of subordination of truth for ego. They actually think it's coming from them hence they feel they deserve the ego boost. Bret said he doesn't like arrogent people and I think if you pressed him on it he would admit it is this very reason people don't like cocky people. They can seem to value being right over the truth. Also it is possible to be an extremely accomplished person and still be humble. I think humility is the ability to learn from ones mistakes and know they don't understand everything. You can still be proud of your accomplishments but you will also be grateful. Which is the key to happiness. Just my two cents
Bryce Mannn. You have explained it well. Because Brett does not give Religion a place in his thought, he will not have understood how Religion defines real Humility. The Republicans seem to personify this definition of weak=humility. George Bush never answered his critics because of his idea of the Good Christian behavior.
Sometimes I wonder if the definition of being "humble" just isn't correct. If being "humble" is to consistently undermine your own work, downplay it relative to others out of fear of being perceived as "arrogant", I would argue there's nothing virtuous nor beneficial about it. I tend to see being "humble" as understanding your value; taking pride in knowing you gave your all to something and being satisfied with it even if it doesn't garner you the outcomes you wanted.
Your definition of humble is essentially a description of arrogance. I think Bret was associating humility with other behavioral traits that seem to indicate a lack of self-esteem. In his mind an overly humble person would hinder their own progress by rationalizing their passive nature and unwillingness to take risks from a lower estimation of their capabilities.
My dear mother reminded me once that there is a difference between confidence and arrogance. The negative effects of over-humility are terrible. Whole subcultures pride themselves on knowing nothing, and flaunting it.
This line of argument seems be a parallel for the principal of Freedom of Speech. You said that: although many extraordinary claims end up being useless/wrong, all of the claims that were of high value began as extraordinary ones. All of the important claims are in the same set that contains a majority of useless claims. This is why freedom of speech is necessary: all of the speech that led to human progress endured criticism and was offensive to some. This is in the same set that holds a majority of bigoted speech that was useless. But to restrict the set of all offensive speech, also restricts the speech that could/would be most important.
In that same vein of thought, humility is what brought the concept of a free market of ideas into existence. Humility means you can understand you might not be right even when you think you are... that the world is a very complex place and its better to err on the side of letting everyone voice their opinions no matter how dumb or offensive YOU think it is. I believe this is at the heart of the current trend of open censorship. People have reverted to a state of arrogance. "Im right and i think youre wrong. Therefore, you spreading your mind viruses is evil and therefore im justified in shutting you down by any means necessary." This is the danger of arrogance... authoritarianism. The truly arrogant are the most viciously authoritarian because they KNOW theyre right and therefore no one should be able to spread "lies" that infect the population.
Thank you for this. I'm currently stuck in a quarter life crisis, left my previous career and now i have no idea what to do because i don't know if i can even do or learn anything at this age. I think arrogance will definitely help me at this stage in my life.
I needed this. I'm an abstract artist who has recently gained a lot of attention and selling a lot of my work and it's all new to me and I've found I am under-valuing my pieces for fear of being seen as arrogant. Thank you for this x
This is called "tall poppy" syndrome here in Australia. I think we all should be careful of easy dichotomies, such as an artificial arrogance -- humility spectrum.
Bret, you get more retweets in a day than views on your videos in a month! You're an excellent mind and voice, and oughta consult somebody to help you get your video content to more people - not for your sake, but for theirs!
It _actually doesn't matter_ so much that "that's not what humility means"; his point is about what most people _think_ "humility" means, and how they reason about and evaluate behavior w.r.t. that inner perception. "What humility really means" might be written down in a dusty book somewhere nobody cares about. What actually affects people's behavior in the world is not what that book says, it is what they think humility means, in practice. To the extent that this perception has bad effects like Bret is pointing at, it might be because their working understanding is misaligned with The Real Definition. But you should direct your effort toward actually improving that implicit understanding - just telling somebody they misdefined the word is not going to work.
@@AexisRai I'm not sure his definition is representative of what "most people think it means". I don't see how you can say that actually. And saying we don't care about the definition when considering what a biologist is saying seems pretty stupid to me.
thanks a lot for this the way I was brought up, I'm ultra humble and often operate under the type of self-sabotage you talked about here I often doubt how much this has helped me versus harmed me, but just can't get myself to stop doing it
Another great upload. I think this is one reason why a lot of innovation has come out of America (Americans are widely considered to be arrogant by the rest of the world). And why countries like Japan that value humility can be great at incremental improvements, but aren't innovation hubs.
The end of the interview where he talks about steel-manning your opponent is exactly the attitude we need in these divisive times. There are always truths on both sides of an argument. Only by acknowledging those truths can we find a productive answer to the problems we face. Take for instance the gun debate: Pro gun: Guns are the single most effective tool for self defense, hands down. Anti gun: Guns, even in the hands of a competent individual, are extremely dangerous. If you deny either of those truths then you are not having an honest conversation about the gun debate. If you accept those truths then the argument is no longer "ban all guns vs. no restrictions on guns". The argument is "what restrictions will allow competent individuals to get guns while reducing the danger as much as possible?" The best answer I have seen to this question is from Sam Harris in his article "Riddle of the Gun". Introduce gun licencing tied to a training course, as well as safe storage regulations. If you want to argue against those points then I suggest you read the article as Sam addresses them brilliantly.
“Let no man think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but let him think soberly.” I don’t know where my ceiling is, but if and when I find it, I will accept it and continue to perform to the best of my ability. Arrogance is thinking of yourself more highly than you ought and inviting other people’s admiration for the mediocre things that you might have accomplished.
I think the quickest analogy that explains what Bret is trying to get at can also be found in JBP's 12 Rules for life. If you see a couple of kids skating and doing dangerous tricks you might think they're clueless and overconfident idiots but by refraining from talking them out of it you might find out that they were testing out their limits and might have uncovered something special onto the world. Don't we all benefit from glorious acts of discovery?
Self-actualization + Ambition. Play on and amplify the traits you know you carry. Utilize Humility when you acknowledge that you are in over your head. Be confident. Believe you deserve what you desire. Humility can in fact keep us in alignment when we start to lose sight of the goal and instead get caught up in how good you look doing it.
I have a friend who always says: "I'm the bessst!" but he says it with a smile on his face and he's actually very humble and he's definitely one of the best in his area (VFX) so... i think "false modesty" is the problem.
I think being humble, means to acknowledge that you aren't what you could be. It doesn't necessarily hinder your ability to discover your potential, in fact it probably enhances it
Honestly, the missing element is always intention. Someone could have the goal of being famous. There is no intention on specifics no understanding of why you want it or how you'll achieve it. I truly believe everyone can have what they want, they just have to truly understand why they want it.
Also be okay with it Manifesting in a different way than you initially expected. If you go in with such a broad statement with very little specific ideas and plans in place which also really drive you and your intent, expect that your expectations will have to change.
But humility is not the same as self doubt. To be humble is to recognise that although you may be great at something, there are also others who are great, and that sometimes we are wrong about how great we are (or how great others are) and should be prepared to recognise that our assessments may be proven wrong at times. I see being humble is to have confidence in yourself, and you may have ambitions to get even better at things, but without mistaking your great skills for superiority. It doesn't make you better than everyone else just because you're better than specific people at specific things. Those people may be better than you at other traits/skills. You can take pride in yourself without thinking you're superior. Arrogance also is not the same as confidence - arrogant people do see themselves as superior and can't handle when this may be proven wrong.
:-B Yeah Bret, after thinking about this for a whole moment, may I HUMBLY suggest, that "HUMILITY" is the final cherry, on top of the trifle of "magnificent achievement". We LOVE our masters, in any field, to be humble because its SHOW-BUSINESS: it looks GOOD. It's the final twist of the blade - not only am I ALL THAT, but in my own assessment "ALL THAT" ain't even "ALL THAT". To finish any job properly, the master must make it look easy, and making something seem easy, is a form of humility, used as strength. Love ya, XXX :-B
I really think he is describing false humility. True humility is, I think, being accurate while hope rather than arrogance fulfills the function of risk taking and drive.
Bret seems to be addressing the extreme pole of humility, which is more like ignorance, a better counterweight to arrogance. There is nuance here, and it's worth a visit to Websters to compare ignorance, humility, uncertainty, confidence, and arrogance; which together resemble a spectrum.
Humility ISN'T having a self-defeatist attitude, it is being aware of one's limitations in any given context/situation. Arrogance is a lack of awareness of one's limitation while at the same time over focusing on one's accomplishments/abilities. The Way is the middle path Mr. Weinstein; confidence in one's abilities, awareness of one's limitations, and the desire to affect change (in whatever form that manifests as).
I suppose it's knowing the difference between confidence, arrogance, modesty and humility. There's quite a subjective interpretation of where the boundaries are. I work in a creative industry and whilst trying to be objective about my limitations I have, on occasion, been accused of both arrogance and humility. I definitely agree that we are expected to aim for humility over arrogance, and that can hamstring an individual's drive to excel.
Let your reach always exceed your grasp. Meaning you should try to do more than you think you can do, that is the only way to discover your limits. I have practiced this since my mid-30s, I'm in my seventies now. Turns out my limits were pretty close to my original estimations. But I have no old age, wondering what if regrets. I am comfortable with my limits and my horizons.
The other part of this is that people need to know who is responsible for what achievement. If somebody achieves something great, but is too humble to take credit and let people know that they're responsible for the achievement, then other people won't know that that person is the one to be listened to. A person of great achievement should be arrogant enough to take credit for that achievement and let everybody know that they're the one that the general public should be listening to.
Reading the comments, some people seem to have missed the point. He isn't saying you shouldn't be truthful about your shortcomings (which is how most people see being humble). He is saying that it is better to slightly exaggerate ones abilities then to slightly understate them. Of course, it'd be best to present your abilities perfectly.
Google X has the slogan "fail early". How ambitious you should be depends on the cost of failure. Humans generally overestimate that cost, but it is a real thing. If an endeavor is one where failure will be evident early, then (normally) that means it won't be too costly to fail. Might as well give it a go. BTW: I like telling people: I'm a scientist, so that means there is an implicit "or I might be wrong" attached to everything I say. IMO we need more people who are scientists in the philosophical sense of contingent beliefs.
Humility can be charming in conversation - especially when coming from an accomplished person. Humility coming from a young person, untested by the world is pitiful.
Arrogant people are doubtfully going to be stopped by talk of humility among peers. As a matter of fact, there are people that are ignited by being doubted by others. As I have discovered my capacities throughout the years, I've realized I did have a lot of self doubt but at a certain point it's obvious that you're underestimating yourself. At that point a flame should ignite, as it did for me, I had enough of doubting myself and now thatt doubt propells me forward.
You can't be driven by humility or arrogance. Any act of creation and/or invention requires a love of the act itself. You will move towards a goal regardless of how you feel about yourself if you are driven to the frontier. If you are easily stopped by humility or waste time by arrogant assumptions, you are on the wrong path. Drive in this context (creativity/inventiveness) is a separate attribute and the primary one.
Humility is based on pride, capability is based on ability, self confidence comes from repeated events that have demonstrated capability, and it is different from arrogance. arrogance is false confidence, where one fails to verify his capability and mistakes pride for ability. Old proverb: "He whom the gods would destroy, they first make proud"
Some people are more or less sessile, lunar, Yin, passive-receptive, and live life by experience: some are motile, solar, Yang, active-dominant, and live life by their Will. The suffering starts with the modern you-can-be-anything / you-can-have-it-all culture, archetypified by Horatio Alger and the American Dream. It’s a self correcting process, but maybe there’s a way that those who come under ego-driven, culture-fostered delusions don’t have to learn quite so much by the long, hard road.
I'd like to redefine humble. Humble is not a virtue. Humble is a rational attitude. Here is how it works. Humble is the recognition of one's limitation and blind spot, and further recognize, other people might have the ability to overcome that limitation and cover the blind spot. Humble is the manifestation of that cognitive function. A genuinely humbler society tend to thrive more through cooperation.
Thank you so much for making these man. I am speechless and ever grateful that you are taking the time to share your wisdom with others and actively working for a better tomorrow. Words are not enough.
How about balance? Can't we strive to be arrogant in our goals yet interact with one another in a humble manner. Being humble may allow for doors, that you would otherwise not even know existed, to open.
From a different worldview, healthy humility is an authentic recognition of human limitation matched by a trust in God and the faith that His ability in us is unlimited, and that the credit for achievement is not ours. Very different from the false humility that fronts for fear of effort & risk, or a resistance to arrogance. As much as I appreciate Bret's intellect, I am consistently disturbed by the absence -- at least in his public presentations -- of any recognition of the realm of mystery. It is a common myopia of scientists (particularly those on the progressive left) -- the idea that everything is either known or knowable, if smart enough humans work hard enough over enough time. (Thomas Sowell's 'unconstrained worldview' in his book "A Conflict of Visions") This is emblematic of the losses we have suffered by selling out wholesale to "Enlightenment" ideas, rather than choosing carefully and integrating....
Pretentiousness isn't ambition, it's feigning depth. True depth is taking something simple and expanding it into something complex, pretentiousness is taking something complex and making it almost reductively simple while pretending it's more complex.
Humility used to mean not domineering or self-aggrandizing, not a lack of ambition; to be humbled was a public event, not an internal assessment. To self-sabotage already has a word for it: timidity.
"We will encourage you to develop the three great virtues of a programmer: laziness, impatience, and hubris." -- LarryWall, Programming Perl (1st edition)
If you call arrogance and humility opposites, I would say be both arrogant and humble. The two opposites will rage a war within you and the objective of your life would be to find a way to make both traits coexist harmoniously within yourself.
There is too little clear thinking wrt narcissism, self-confidence, self-esteem, arrogance, modesty, vanity, etc. Not surprisingly, there aren't proper words to express real understanding of these related phenomena. Here are some related thoughts about this FWIW: The gradual overcoming of preoccupation with oneself (outgrowing narcissism) makes one more useful to others and a better person--but what word do we have for being relatively free of narcissism? Self-confidence does not always correlate with one's abilities (we can over-rate or under-rate ourselves, neither of which is desirable). Arrogance is not good, and can involve disdain for others who seem inferior (expressed or not), or improper appropriation. People who are very confident are often misunderstood as being arrogant, even though arrogant people can be over-confident. Modesty, at its best, is roughly an antonym to arrogance, and involves presenting oneself so as to avoid unnecessary self-promotion, and a readiness to recognize that which others can contribute. Pride, as a vice, is the desire to rate better than others, in one's own mind and/or in the view of others. I want a word like humility for being relatively free of pride that is not confounded with low self-confidence. I am still grappling with my narcissism, am over-confident, occasionally display arrogance, and still have pride--darn it. Now, am I more proud of my self-awareness, or embarrassed by these character flaws?
My mentor in aquarium design, who is a two time world champion said this to me- “You know Steven, you wouldn’t be my student if not for your innate talent, and your innate belief in yourself. BUT if you want to get better faster,you must be more humble. You must accurately perceive, or even overestimate the difference in your own current ability and that of the world’s greatest. Only that will motivate you, and objectively guide you to make the leaps in growth to get to that level.”
I do think that the social value of humbleness arose because most people are not high achievers, and feel threatened by those that are. So if someone continuously brags about their accomplishments, the rest of us are reminded of how mediocre we are. We know that the high achiever is more likely to get the promotions or desirable mate that we want for ourselves, so we respond negatively to bragging and do not accept it. The high achiever knows that he has to work with and be accepted by the mediocre people around him if he is to be successful, so he complies with our request to be humble, or at least brag less than before. My hypothesis anyway. Evolution.
I have generally found my modesty to be self-defeating. I become physically uncomfortable with praise and also with aggressive self-promotion. I also am easily agitated by targeted negativity and negative criticism. I think the mores of humility work best in a stratified society where it is the responsibility of the leader to adequately reward the subordinate. In a society of supposed equals, that responsibility is somewhat alleviated being replaced with an expectation of ethical egoism.
to me, Confidence & Ambition are good things, but it becomes a problem when high levels of confidence or ambition cross over into thinking that you are above everyone else, and therefore deserve special treatment of some kind. I see both arrogance & self-sabotage as bad things. I see humility, confidence and ambition as good things.
Humility and arrogance are the vices associated with the virtue of CONFIDENCE. Too much humility and one is timid and self doubting. Too much arrogance and one is a self absorbed asshole. It is better to teach pursuit of the virtue instead of avoidance of the vices. Just my two cents to push the discussion. You do excellent work and you're an exemplar of a human being. You inspire me to do better and give me hope that humanity isn't totally lost...
Bret is trying to point at a kind of self-sabotaging behavior that he sees people engage in while telling themselves that they are doing a good thing. And it turns out that the word such people will use to describe it is "humility". I know I've used it in that way! So he sticks with that label, and explains the problem with the behavior. Is it more directly helpful to tell those people that (1) their behavior is actually self-sabotaging, so they can realize that it isn't helping them and change it, or that (2) they are using a word wrong - that they shouldn't "stop being humble", they should simply define it differently, as if this definitional change would automatically change their behavior? Maintaining our preferred emotional or moral connotations for the words "humble" and "arrogant" is a distraction from actually solving the problem of people self-sabotaging.
Great video. And that bit about steel-manning is an absolute gem of a thought. :) Rapoport's rule on steroids! :) For those seeking a world class exemplar of steel-manning I recommend philosopher Walter Kaufmann.
I think the humility simply got there as a result of the hunter teams comes home and one guy starts to lie and say he did most of the job getting the food home, and the rest of the guys said "Nope", and made an example of the arrogant prick. Then give it time and evolution. We love heroes who deliver, and they may boast and brag about future endeavors, but those who only talk and don't walk will be encouraged to take a long walk off of that short pier.
I suspect that humility, within Judeo-Christian context at least and the implication of assuming lower status, is predominantly exhorted with regard to humanity's relationship to God. With regard to our fellow man(kind), humility functions as a check against arrogance as well as keeping open minds for the manifestation of insight and purpose in others we might be predisposed to thinking are worthless or otherwise less important/valuable. A mistake about humility is assuming it means discounting one's own strengths as opposed to relentlessly discerning the nature and scope of one's strengths.
Does this remind anyone of Messi Vs Ronaldo , Ronaldo is given a hard time for being 'arrogant' because he's extremely ambitious and considers himself to be the best, while messi is considered to be 'humble'
False humility or humbleness is worse than arrogance. Everyone that is good at something...knows that they are good...pretending otherwise for humble points, is ridiculous.
Look up a word. Get the definition. Ascertain the etymology of the word. Do not conflate,interchange words. So when you begin discussing, describing the word ( s ) you are not confusing words and definitions. Confidence and Arrogance are not synonymous. Humility,shame, embarrassment, humiliation are not synonymous. Guilt and shame are not synonymous. We connote a lot. We do not denote when we should, or connote when we should. 😏😉🤗☺️
What if shooting down the people who dare to dream big acts as a filter. a filter that might discourage the people who weren't going to commit anyway at apparently stop at the first sign of resistance. This so that only the people who are truly dedicated to their goals can get the resources and not the people who only talk big and are more likely to squander the resources.
It sounds like Bret is sharpening the definition of arrogance such that it includes those who assume another person's ambition is arrogance even when they have no expertise upon which to discredit the actual ideas, and does not include those who believe they may be able to solve an impossible problem even though they are aware of the extant of the obstacles.
Hi Bret- could you please talk about conservation in an evolutionary context? Is kind of a weird angle to take, but I think it's worthwhile to think about. From an evolutionary perspective, since we are so closely tied to the resources of the environment, should we exploit them for our benefit? Or is it in our interest to preserve what's there is and what remains? Do the long term benefits outweigh the short term gains? Are the long term benefits even worth striving for? Can we convince others of this?
It's not 'sophisticated' to be self-sabotaging. It is, however, egalitarian, because it ensures that those of ability don't get too far out in front of everybody else. If those left behind all belong to one ethnic or racial group, watch out! What life would be like in a society where self-handicapping and 'dumbing things down,' in the name of 'inclusion,' had become dominant social virtues was aptly satirized by Kurt Vonnegut in his story, Harrison Bergeron.
There is however a difference of the relationship we have with ourselves and the relationship we have with other people.. By this I mean that we can think highly of ourselves without being arrogant with others.. that is like JP says... believe that we can learn something from everyone we meet...
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Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less - C.S. Lewis
C.S Lewis has said so many smart things.
I’m amazed at the quality of discussion here. Usually TH-cam comment sections are cesspools of self-righteousness and inflammatory devisiveness for ego-inflating purposes. Pretty cool how you two found common ground.
Religious people are often very clever with how they wordsmith. It's all sleight of hand though. I remember some spiritual guru saying something like "Atonement is really just At-One-Ment" and everyone gasped with amazement at such "wisdom". Another new age television guy once said "Relax, you're going nowhere---have you ever noticed? Nowhere is really just Now Here" And again everyone gasped in amazement at such insight. But it's all a hustle and a con... I once was a huge fan of CS Lewis as a teen. Not anymore. It is unfortunate that he wasted his life elucidating [and convoluting all the more] a mere fantasy. I say that with the utmost respect as a former fan who read [I believe] every single thing he wrote...I prefer the guy who replied below with an actual definition from the dictionary. it's clearer and much more realistic. Selflessness is an illusion. When we die. That's when we have no self to consider. Until then, you SHOULD think of yourself first. Just don't be a dick about it, that's all. Let others in on some of the good stuff you get to enjoy. You need your self in order to do anything in life. Therefore, selfishness is not a lack of humility; but having one foot firmly planted in reality. And if somebody does that well enough, they cannot help but recognize how insignificant they are and how insufficient what they know is in the big picture---THAT'S humility. Not thinking LESS of one's self. But keeping one's self in its proper place amidst all the other selves in the world. Sorry for the long comment. Just HAD to say something.
Chris ~ A non-magical person goes into a cave and turns first into a monster then a hero. Lewis's Eustace allegorizes the vice of his own atheism (a 'straw man'), but Tolkien gives Gollum virtous counterparts (edit: a 'steel man') in the Shire folk. Thinking of one's self less can lead to forgetting one's own name.
"...men are continually tending to undervalue their environment, to undervalue their happiness, to undervalue themselves. The great sin of mankind, the sin typified by the fall of Adam, is the tendency, not towards pride, but towards this weird and horrible humility.
This is the great fall, the fall by which the fish forgets the sea, the ox forgets the meadow, the clerk forgets the city, every man forgets his environment and, in the fullest and most literal sense, forgets himself."
[G.K.Chesterton- The Defendant]
www.lingq.com/lesson/introduction-93201/
I like your comment. It makes me think of this "Act as if the future of the world depends upon what you do, all the while laughing at yourself for thinking you can make a difference"
For me, humility is being able to understand the depth of one's own ignorance and foolishness. It isn't being afraid of arrogance, and I think it's absolutely possible and vital to a person's growth of character to have both humility and confidence.
Confidence is not the same thing as arrogance. Self-doubt is not the same thing as humility.
This
That's why I'm so damn humble and amazing. But mostly humble... Amazingly humble.
I’m so humble I don’t even know what’s mine or yours.
I'm so humble. You already know!
It's easy to be humble and nice when we're in our comfort zones. We just need to be triggered in the right spot and we quickly become f*cking devils at the snap of a finger.
I'm not very humble, but then again, I prefer doing something I'm good at, like bragging. I find bragging brought me precisely what I want in life, but alas, I don't think many people would be capable of attaining that necessary threshold of quality brags themselves so I wouldn't give the advice without warning. You know it takes a lot of dedication to get this good, and it's a lonely road to get there. I now get to rest on my laurels, though, no thanks to all that hardship.
SlyNine 🙃
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
I think there are some semantic issues at play here. It depends on how you define humility. If you define it as "not confident in one's ability" then sure this makes sense. You could call that timidity or even shame or depression. Remember the people who use that word tend to be religious and I think they would define it more like "to know that this confidence is coming through you, not from you". And in beliving that they will not subordinate the truth to their ego. To me arrogence runs the risk of subordination of truth for ego. They actually think it's coming from them hence they feel they deserve the ego boost. Bret said he doesn't like arrogent people and I think if you pressed him on it he would admit it is this very reason people don't like cocky people. They can seem to value being right over the truth. Also it is possible to be an extremely accomplished person and still be humble. I think humility is the ability to learn from ones mistakes and know they don't understand everything. You can still be proud of your accomplishments but you will also be grateful. Which is the key to happiness. Just my two cents
Bryce Mannn. You have explained it well. Because Brett does not give Religion a place in his thought, he will not have understood how Religion defines real Humility. The Republicans seem to personify this definition of weak=humility. George Bush never answered his critics because of his idea of the Good Christian behavior.
@@m.burgesszbikowski8049 Wrong premise.
Lady Mercy .Lovely name. Are you?
Sometimes I wonder if the definition of being "humble" just isn't correct. If being "humble" is to consistently undermine your own work, downplay it relative to others out of fear of being perceived as "arrogant", I would argue there's nothing virtuous nor beneficial about it. I tend to see being "humble" as understanding your value; taking pride in knowing you gave your all to something and being satisfied with it even if it doesn't garner you the outcomes you wanted.
Your definition of humble is essentially a description of arrogance. I think Bret was associating humility with other behavioral traits that seem to indicate a lack of self-esteem. In his mind an overly humble person would hinder their own progress by rationalizing their passive nature and unwillingness to take risks from a lower estimation of their capabilities.
accurately describes my experience in the first year of university when I kept raising my hand during lectures
My dear mother reminded me once that there is a difference between confidence and arrogance. The negative effects of over-humility are terrible. Whole subcultures pride themselves on knowing nothing, and flaunting it.
This line of argument seems be a parallel for the principal of Freedom of Speech.
You said that: although many extraordinary claims end up being useless/wrong, all of the claims that were of high value began as extraordinary ones. All of the important claims are in the same set that contains a majority of useless claims.
This is why freedom of speech is necessary: all of the speech that led to human progress endured criticism and was offensive to some. This is in the same set that holds a majority of bigoted speech that was useless. But to restrict the set of all offensive speech, also restricts the speech that could/would be most important.
In that same vein of thought, humility is what brought the concept of a free market of ideas into existence. Humility means you can understand you might not be right even when you think you are... that the world is a very complex place and its better to err on the side of letting everyone voice their opinions no matter how dumb or offensive YOU think it is. I believe this is at the heart of the current trend of open censorship. People have reverted to a state of arrogance. "Im right and i think youre wrong. Therefore, you spreading your mind viruses is evil and therefore im justified in shutting you down by any means necessary." This is the danger of arrogance... authoritarianism. The truly arrogant are the most viciously authoritarian because they KNOW theyre right and therefore no one should be able to spread "lies" that infect the population.
We've been searching for the most humble man in the world so that we can award him with a great honor but we are having trouble finding the guy.
Thank you for this. I'm currently stuck in a quarter life crisis, left my previous career and now i have no idea what to do because i don't know if i can even do or learn anything at this age. I think arrogance will definitely help me at this stage in my life.
I needed this. I'm an abstract artist who has recently gained a lot of attention and selling a lot of my work and it's all new to me and I've found I am under-valuing my pieces for fear of being seen as arrogant. Thank you for this x
This is called "tall poppy" syndrome here in Australia. I think we all should be careful of easy dichotomies, such as an artificial arrogance -- humility spectrum.
It always irked me that I couldn't brag about my humility...
Bret, you get more retweets in a day than views on your videos in a month! You're an excellent mind and voice, and oughta consult somebody to help you get your video content to more people - not for your sake, but for theirs!
That is not what humility means. You can be both humble and fearless at the same time. In fact, Biblical Proverbs recommends exactly that.
Brie Clayton :lol, like walk in the shadow of death, fear no evil ?😂
Case in point: Thai Boxers. You won't find a better mix of humbleness and LITERAL ass-kicking ability anywhere.
It _actually doesn't matter_ so much that "that's not what humility means"; his point is about what most people _think_ "humility" means, and how they reason about and evaluate behavior w.r.t. that inner perception.
"What humility really means" might be written down in a dusty book somewhere nobody cares about. What actually affects people's behavior in the world is not what that book says, it is what they think humility means, in practice.
To the extent that this perception has bad effects like Bret is pointing at, it might be because their working understanding is misaligned with The Real Definition. But you should direct your effort toward actually improving that implicit understanding - just telling somebody they misdefined the word is not going to work.
@@AexisRai I'm not sure his definition is representative of what "most people think it means". I don't see how you can say that actually. And saying we don't care about the definition when considering what a biologist is saying seems pretty stupid to me.
I'm all for Socratic Humility and epistemic/epistemological humility. Those concepts have no intersection with virtue signalling or self-deception.
thanks a lot for this
the way I was brought up, I'm ultra humble and often operate under the type of self-sabotage you talked about here
I often doubt how much this has helped me versus harmed me, but just can't get myself to stop doing it
Happy you're upping your presence. We need a Biologist at the table more than ever.
Another great upload. I think this is one reason why a lot of innovation has come out of America (Americans are widely considered to be arrogant by the rest of the world).
And why countries like Japan that value humility can be great at incremental improvements, but aren't innovation hubs.
The end of the interview where he talks about steel-manning your opponent is exactly the attitude we need in these divisive times.
There are always truths on both sides of an argument. Only by acknowledging those truths can we find a productive answer to the problems we face.
Take for instance the gun debate:
Pro gun: Guns are the single most effective tool for self defense, hands down.
Anti gun: Guns, even in the hands of a competent individual, are extremely dangerous.
If you deny either of those truths then you are not having an honest conversation about the gun debate. If you accept those truths then the argument is no longer "ban all guns vs. no restrictions on guns". The argument is "what restrictions will allow competent individuals to get guns while reducing the danger as much as possible?"
The best answer I have seen to this question is from Sam Harris in his article "Riddle of the Gun". Introduce gun licencing tied to a training course, as well as safe storage regulations. If you want to argue against those points then I suggest you read the article as Sam addresses them brilliantly.
“Let no man think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but let him think soberly.” I don’t know where my ceiling is, but if and when I find it, I will accept it and continue to perform to the best of my ability. Arrogance is thinking of yourself more highly than you ought and inviting other people’s admiration for the mediocre things that you might have accomplished.
I think the quickest analogy that explains what Bret is trying to get at can also be found in JBP's 12 Rules for life. If you see a couple of kids skating and doing dangerous tricks you might think they're clueless and overconfident idiots but by refraining from talking them out of it you might find out that they were testing out their limits and might have uncovered something special onto the world. Don't we all benefit from glorious acts of discovery?
Self-actualization + Ambition. Play on and amplify the traits you know you carry. Utilize Humility when you acknowledge that you are in over your head. Be confident. Believe you deserve what you desire. Humility can in fact keep us in alignment when we start to lose sight of the goal and instead get caught up in how good you look doing it.
I wish I had been brought up in a way that didn't result in me constantly second guessing myself.
As they say, aim for the moon, because even if you miss you'll end up among the stars.
Bret, I had an epiphany of confidence while you spoke from 6:45 to 7:00. Thank you.
I have a friend who always says: "I'm the bessst!" but he says it with a smile on his face and he's actually very humble and he's definitely one of the best in his area (VFX) so... i think "false modesty" is the problem.
Took me a while, but now I’m very impressed with this man and enjoy his presentations. Very astute and logical.
I think being humble, means to acknowledge that you aren't what you could be. It doesn't necessarily hinder your ability to discover your potential, in fact it probably enhances it
Be Confident not Arrogant ie (Prideful) and
Humble not Timid ie (Insecure)
Honestly, the missing element is always intention. Someone could have the goal of being famous. There is no intention on specifics no understanding of why you want it or how you'll achieve it. I truly believe everyone can have what they want, they just have to truly understand why they want it.
Also be okay with it Manifesting in a different way than you initially expected. If you go in with such a broad statement with very little specific ideas and plans in place which also really drive you and your intent, expect that your expectations will have to change.
in a simplified phrase : be humble about your past achievements and arrogant about what you want to achieve in you future
Arrogance is pride. One for self, "look at me ", one for others. Though we have courage, the catch is not to become prideful.
But humility is not the same as self doubt. To be humble is to recognise that although you may be great at something, there are also others who are great, and that sometimes we are wrong about how great we are (or how great others are) and should be prepared to recognise that our assessments may be proven wrong at times. I see being humble is to have confidence in yourself, and you may have ambitions to get even better at things, but without mistaking your great skills for superiority. It doesn't make you better than everyone else just because you're better than specific people at specific things. Those people may be better than you at other traits/skills. You can take pride in yourself without thinking you're superior. Arrogance also is not the same as confidence - arrogant people do see themselves as superior and can't handle when this may be proven wrong.
I am the most humble person on earth. Nobody does humility better than me. - Donald Trump
Spock LOL. Nice one mate.
:-B Yeah Bret, after thinking about this for a whole moment, may I HUMBLY suggest, that "HUMILITY" is the final cherry, on top of the trifle of "magnificent achievement". We LOVE our masters, in any field, to be humble because its SHOW-BUSINESS: it looks GOOD. It's the final twist of the blade - not only am I ALL THAT, but in my own assessment "ALL THAT" ain't even "ALL THAT". To finish any job properly, the master must make it look easy, and making something seem easy, is a form of humility, used as strength. Love ya, XXX :-B
I really think he is describing false humility. True humility is, I think, being accurate while hope rather than arrogance fulfills the function of risk taking and drive.
Bret seems to be addressing the extreme pole of humility, which is more like ignorance, a better counterweight to arrogance. There is nuance here, and it's worth a visit to Websters to compare ignorance, humility, uncertainty, confidence, and arrogance; which together resemble a spectrum.
Humility ISN'T having a self-defeatist attitude, it is being aware of one's limitations in any given context/situation. Arrogance is a lack of awareness of one's limitation while at the same time over focusing on one's accomplishments/abilities. The Way is the middle path Mr. Weinstein; confidence in one's abilities, awareness of one's limitations, and the desire to affect change (in whatever form that manifests as).
I suppose it's knowing the difference between confidence, arrogance, modesty and humility. There's quite a subjective interpretation of where the boundaries are. I work in a creative industry and whilst trying to be objective about my limitations I have, on occasion, been accused of both arrogance and humility. I definitely agree that we are expected to aim for humility over arrogance, and that can hamstring an individual's drive to excel.
My personal definition of humility does not limit ambition or vision.
Let your reach always exceed your grasp. Meaning you should try to do more than you think you can do, that is the only way to discover your limits. I have practiced this since my mid-30s, I'm in my seventies now. Turns out my limits were pretty close to my original estimations. But I have no old age, wondering what if regrets. I am comfortable with my limits and my horizons.
The other part of this is that people need to know who is responsible for what achievement. If somebody achieves something great, but is too humble to take credit and let people know that they're responsible for the achievement, then other people won't know that that person is the one to be listened to. A person of great achievement should be arrogant enough to take credit for that achievement and let everybody know that they're the one that the general public should be listening to.
Reading the comments, some people seem to have missed the point. He isn't saying you shouldn't be truthful about your shortcomings (which is how most people see being humble). He is saying that it is better to slightly exaggerate ones abilities then to slightly understate them. Of course, it'd be best to present your abilities perfectly.
Google X has the slogan "fail early". How ambitious you should be depends on the cost of failure. Humans generally overestimate that cost, but it is a real thing. If an endeavor is one where failure will be evident early, then (normally) that means it won't be too costly to fail. Might as well give it a go.
BTW: I like telling people: I'm a scientist, so that means there is an implicit "or I might be wrong" attached to everything I say.
IMO we need more people who are scientists in the philosophical sense of contingent beliefs.
Humility is absolutely a vice.
Always enjoy Bret's words... this I agree on... I even enjoy the disagreements.
Upload more! If you do more videos like this, you will undoubtably grow your channel. I love hearing your take on things.
Great video professor! Looking forward to your work.
Humility can be charming in conversation - especially when coming from an accomplished person. Humility coming from a young person, untested by the world is pitiful.
GREAT VIDEO BRET! PLEASE DO MORE LIKE THIS
Arrogant people are doubtfully going to be stopped by talk of humility among peers. As a matter of fact, there are people that are ignited by being doubted by others. As I have discovered my capacities throughout the years, I've realized I did have a lot of self doubt but at a certain point it's obvious that you're underestimating yourself. At that point a flame should ignite, as it did for me, I had enough of doubting myself and now thatt doubt propells me forward.
You can't be driven by humility or arrogance. Any act of creation and/or invention requires a love of the act itself. You will move towards a goal regardless of how you feel about yourself if you are driven to the frontier. If you are easily stopped by humility or waste time by arrogant assumptions, you are on the wrong path. Drive in this context (creativity/inventiveness) is a separate attribute and the primary one.
Testing limits is one of best ways to find an edge.
Humility is based on pride, capability is based on ability, self confidence comes from repeated events that have demonstrated capability, and it is different from arrogance. arrogance is false confidence, where one fails to verify his capability and mistakes pride for ability.
Old proverb: "He whom the gods would destroy, they first make proud"
I don't know whether to agree or disagree but it certainly makes me think.
Some people are more or less sessile, lunar, Yin, passive-receptive, and live life by experience: some are motile, solar, Yang, active-dominant, and live life by their Will.
The suffering starts with the modern you-can-be-anything / you-can-have-it-all culture, archetypified by Horatio Alger and the American Dream.
It’s a self correcting process, but maybe there’s a way that those who come under ego-driven, culture-fostered delusions don’t have to learn quite so much by the long, hard road.
I'd like to redefine humble. Humble is not a virtue. Humble is a rational attitude.
Here is how it works. Humble is the recognition of one's limitation and blind spot, and further recognize, other people might have the ability to overcome that limitation and cover the blind spot. Humble is the manifestation of that cognitive function. A genuinely humbler society tend to thrive more through cooperation.
Above a certain threshold of awareness it becomes difficult to surprise oneself. Not impossible
But that edge is probably worth spending a lot of time at
These videos are gold. Thank you!
Benjamin is sooooo good at interviewing Bret. Both superb.
Thank you so much for making these man. I am speechless and ever grateful that you are taking the time to share your wisdom with others and actively working for a better tomorrow. Words are not enough.
How about balance? Can't we strive to be arrogant in our goals yet interact with one another in a humble manner. Being humble may allow for doors, that you would otherwise not even know existed, to open.
From a different worldview, healthy humility is an authentic recognition of human limitation matched by a trust in God and the faith that His ability in us is unlimited, and that the credit for achievement is not ours. Very different from the false humility that fronts for fear of effort & risk, or a resistance to arrogance.
As much as I appreciate Bret's intellect, I am consistently disturbed by the absence -- at least in his public presentations -- of any recognition of the realm of mystery. It is a common myopia of scientists (particularly those on the progressive left) -- the idea that everything is either known or knowable, if smart enough humans work hard enough over enough time. (Thomas Sowell's 'unconstrained worldview' in his book "A Conflict of Visions") This is emblematic of the losses we have suffered by selling out wholesale to "Enlightenment" ideas, rather than choosing carefully and integrating....
Pretentiousness isn't ambition, it's feigning depth. True depth is taking something simple and expanding it into something complex, pretentiousness is taking something complex and making it almost reductively simple while pretending it's more complex.
Humility used to mean not domineering or self-aggrandizing, not a lack of ambition; to be humbled was a public event, not an internal assessment. To self-sabotage already has a word for it: timidity.
"We will encourage you to develop the three great virtues of a programmer: laziness, impatience, and hubris." -- LarryWall, Programming Perl (1st edition)
Great comment Chris Cullen. Arrogance is fine as long as you back it. Then it's just jealousy.
If you call arrogance and humility opposites, I would say be both arrogant and humble. The two opposites will rage a war within you and the objective of your life would be to find a way to make both traits coexist harmoniously within yourself.
There is too little clear thinking wrt narcissism, self-confidence, self-esteem, arrogance, modesty, vanity, etc. Not surprisingly, there aren't proper words to express real understanding of these related phenomena.
Here are some related thoughts about this FWIW:
The gradual overcoming of preoccupation with oneself (outgrowing narcissism) makes one more useful to others and a better person--but what word do we have for being relatively free of narcissism?
Self-confidence does not always correlate with one's abilities (we can over-rate or under-rate ourselves, neither of which is desirable).
Arrogance is not good, and can involve disdain for others who seem inferior (expressed or not), or improper appropriation. People who are very confident are often misunderstood as being arrogant, even though arrogant people can be over-confident.
Modesty, at its best, is roughly an antonym to arrogance, and involves presenting oneself so as to avoid unnecessary self-promotion, and a readiness to recognize that which others can contribute.
Pride, as a vice, is the desire to rate better than others, in one's own mind and/or in the view of others. I want a word like humility for being relatively free of pride that is not confounded with low self-confidence.
I am still grappling with my narcissism, am over-confident, occasionally display arrogance, and still have pride--darn it. Now, am I more proud of my self-awareness, or embarrassed by these character flaws?
The reasoning and self-awareness distinction is well articulated!
My mentor in aquarium design, who is a two time world champion said this to me- “You know Steven, you wouldn’t be my student if not for your innate talent, and your innate belief in yourself. BUT if you want to get better faster,you must be more humble. You must accurately perceive, or even overestimate the difference in your own current ability and that of the world’s greatest. Only that will motivate you, and objectively guide you to make the leaps in growth to get to that level.”
You can be determined accurate and humble, I don’t think he has this one right.
I do think that the social value of humbleness arose because most people are not high achievers, and feel threatened by those that are. So if someone continuously brags about their accomplishments, the rest of us are reminded of how mediocre we are. We know that the high achiever is more likely to get the promotions or desirable mate that we want for ourselves, so we respond negatively to bragging and do not accept it. The high achiever knows that he has to work with and be accepted by the mediocre people around him if he is to be successful, so he complies with our request to be humble, or at least brag less than before. My hypothesis anyway. Evolution.
I definitely agree with the "Dialectic" position.
I have generally found my modesty to be self-defeating. I become physically uncomfortable with praise and also with aggressive self-promotion. I also am easily agitated by targeted negativity and negative criticism. I think the mores of humility work best in a stratified society where it is the responsibility of the leader to adequately reward the subordinate. In a society of supposed equals, that responsibility is somewhat alleviated being replaced with an expectation of ethical egoism.
to me, Confidence & Ambition are good things, but it becomes a problem when high levels of confidence or ambition cross over into thinking that you are above everyone else, and therefore deserve special treatment of some kind.
I see both arrogance & self-sabotage as bad things.
I see humility, confidence and ambition as good things.
I'm liking this guy more and more.
Humility and arrogance are the vices associated with the virtue of CONFIDENCE. Too much humility and one is timid and self doubting. Too much arrogance and one is a self absorbed asshole. It is better to teach pursuit of the virtue instead of avoidance of the vices.
Just my two cents to push the discussion. You do excellent work and you're an exemplar of a human being. You inspire me to do better and give me hope that humanity isn't totally lost...
How does a brilliant mind define humility in such an odd way?
Bret is trying to point at a kind of self-sabotaging behavior that he sees people engage in while telling themselves that they are doing a good thing. And it turns out that the word such people will use to describe it is "humility". I know I've used it in that way! So he sticks with that label, and explains the problem with the behavior.
Is it more directly helpful to tell those people that (1) their behavior is actually self-sabotaging, so they can realize that it isn't helping them and change it, or that (2) they are using a word wrong - that they shouldn't "stop being humble", they should simply define it differently, as if this definitional change would automatically change their behavior?
Maintaining our preferred emotional or moral connotations for the words "humble" and "arrogant" is a distraction from actually solving the problem of people self-sabotaging.
Great video. And that bit about steel-manning is an absolute gem of a thought. :) Rapoport's rule on steroids! :) For those seeking a world class exemplar of steel-manning I recommend philosopher Walter Kaufmann.
Depends on you definition of success. In the spiritual world, success is measured in souls.
Perhaps arrogance is one end of a spectrum, where the other end is humility? Could we replace arrogance with assertiveness?
The problem is when people value "being humble" what they are really doing is valuing to being complacent in disguise.
I think the humility simply got there as a result of the hunter teams comes home and one guy starts to lie and say he did most of the job getting the food home, and the rest of the guys said "Nope", and made an example of the arrogant prick. Then give it time and evolution. We love heroes who deliver, and they may boast and brag about future endeavors, but those who only talk and don't walk will be encouraged to take a long walk off of that short pier.
I suspect that humility, within Judeo-Christian context at least and the implication of assuming lower status, is predominantly exhorted with regard to humanity's relationship to God. With regard to our fellow man(kind), humility functions as a check against arrogance as well as keeping open minds for the manifestation of insight and purpose in others we might be predisposed to thinking are worthless or otherwise less important/valuable.
A mistake about humility is assuming it means discounting one's own strengths as opposed to relentlessly discerning the nature and scope of one's strengths.
Does this remind anyone of Messi Vs Ronaldo , Ronaldo is given a hard time for being 'arrogant' because he's extremely ambitious and considers himself to be the best, while messi is considered to be 'humble'
False humility or humbleness is worse than arrogance. Everyone that is good at something...knows that they are good...pretending otherwise for humble points, is ridiculous.
Look up a word. Get the definition. Ascertain the etymology of the word. Do not conflate,interchange words. So when you begin discussing, describing the word ( s ) you are not confusing words and definitions. Confidence and Arrogance are not synonymous. Humility,shame, embarrassment, humiliation are not synonymous. Guilt and shame are not synonymous. We connote a lot. We do not denote when we should, or connote when we should. 😏😉🤗☺️
What if shooting down the people who dare to dream big acts as a filter. a filter that might discourage the people who weren't going to commit anyway at apparently stop at the first sign of resistance. This so that only the people who are truly dedicated to their goals can get the resources and not the people who only talk big and are more likely to squander the resources.
Is it fair to say that, while arrogance as such should be frowned upon, we should try to avoid "fear of being arrogant"?
Being humble may be a virtue, however it is sometimes merely prudent. Lol.
It sounds like Bret is sharpening the definition of arrogance such that it includes those who assume another person's ambition is arrogance even when they have no expertise upon which to discredit the actual ideas, and does not include those who believe they may be able to solve an impossible problem even though they are aware of the extant of the obstacles.
when driving towards a wall, arrogance is ok at 5km/h, but not so wise at 50km/h
Hi Bret- could you please talk about conservation in an evolutionary context? Is kind of a weird angle to take, but I think it's worthwhile to think about. From an evolutionary perspective, since we are so closely tied to the resources of the environment, should we exploit them for our benefit? Or is it in our interest to preserve what's there is and what remains? Do the long term benefits outweigh the short term gains? Are the long term benefits even worth striving for? Can we convince others of this?
It's not 'sophisticated' to be self-sabotaging. It is, however, egalitarian, because it ensures that those of ability don't get too far out in front of everybody else. If those left behind all belong to one ethnic or racial group, watch out! What life would be like in a society where self-handicapping and 'dumbing things down,' in the name of 'inclusion,' had become dominant social virtues was aptly satirized by Kurt Vonnegut in his story, Harrison Bergeron.
There is however a difference of the relationship we have with ourselves and the relationship we have with other people.. By this I mean that we can think highly of ourselves without being arrogant with others.. that is like JP says... believe that we can learn something from everyone we meet...
Whats wrong with being self assured ? Big difference between arrogance and self assurance.