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Old 10-22-2013, 02:54 PM
 
Location: USA
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Do you think your opinion is important? Do you ever read up on a subject to help you form an opinion?Can you support most of your opinions or do you just say the first thing that comes to mind?
One definition: a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
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Old 10-22-2013, 05:34 PM
 
Location: Somewhere
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No, my opinion is not important. Also many times my opinion is formed from feelings and not from facts. I modify what I hear to fit my agenda. When I read about politics I make sure I read things that agree and reinforce my point of view. I also form opinions about subjects I have little knowlegde of, thinking I am an expert because I saw a short documental, read a short article online or took a short class on the subject 10, 15 years ago.

What about you?

Here's a list of all my cognitive biases:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
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Old 10-22-2013, 05:58 PM
 
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On the universal scale, no.

In a one-on-one or group discussion, yes. Everyone's opinion is important there, particularly if you, as a pair or group, are trying to solve a problem.
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Old 10-22-2013, 06:04 PM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sade693 View Post
On the universal scale, no.

In a one-on-one or group discussion, yes. Everyone's opinion is important there, particularly if you, as a pair or group, are trying to solve a problem.
Agreed. Also in elections all opinions are important and that is why everyone should vote.
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Old 10-23-2013, 07:56 AM
 
Location: Northeastern US
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My opinions are important to me. They are somewhat important to one or two other people. They are of no significance whatsoever beyond that.

I do my best to have informed and empirically supportable views about things that are of actual importance. Nothing is 100% certain; it's all probabilities. Thankfully, to function in the world day-to-day, 100% certainty is seldom required. It's also okay to say "I don't know" where appropriate. In fact this last may be the most important point of all; most of the BS in the world comes from people making assertions about things that are currently unknown and in some cases quite possibly unknowable. Learning to tolerate uncertainty is an important hallmark of adulthood.
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Old 10-23-2013, 09:31 AM
 
Location: USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rubi3 View Post
Do you think your opinion is important? Do you ever read up on a subject to help you form an opinion?Can you support most of your opinions or do you just say the first thing that comes to mind?
One definition: a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
Opinions is: your brain processes all the information in your head about this subject and makes a conclusion.

Everything in our world is based on such conclusions (aka: opinions). Like all kinds of belief systems and social systems and even government systems, what we see on tv, what we learn in school, what psychologists know, what is written in history books and in some educational books...all this comes from opinions.


Opinions and our life could be compared to a lego set and its pieces. Imagine you're trying to create something from lego pieces. You need all kinds of different pieces. Some pieces will be important to you for a certain project and others won't be. But others might be important when you build something different next time. So, all opinions are potentially important, could be seen as important in the appropriate situation.

So, since, everything in our life is built out of opinions, it's important to express them: just in case one of them hits the mark and makes something great happen.

The more educated you are and the more experienced, the more useful your opinion will be. But even the dumb ones could say something very useful at times, even our children can say something we could use at times.

Opinion is: a brain's conclusion based on all the things you already know. So I personally don't do research to support my opinion. I just speak out my opinion (conclusion) based on what is already in my head about this subject.
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Old 10-23-2013, 12:03 PM
 
Location: Native of Any Beach/FL
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No- BUT there are people whose opinions change the world..
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Old 10-24-2013, 09:05 AM
 
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Yes some of my opinions are very important because many times there are a LOT of other people who feel the same as I do. And I do take time to share my suggestions / opinions on what should be done / changed, with those who are likely to listen.

I do read a lot, so most of my opinions are based on fact. I usually can backup what I say with supporting facts.

Things DO get fixed and sometimes changed because I take the time to call someone and say something needs fixing or it might be a good idea to change the way something is done.
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Old 10-24-2013, 09:17 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
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It depends on how persuasively you can express it. Think about people whose opinions get disseminated to the world by the mass media, and ask yourself if they are any more likely to be right than you are. They are certainly more important, but may not be right, and in fact usually aren't. because they are often motivated by self-interest rather than truth, and the opiner often has the power to make his opinions self-fulfilling and thereby reflect a future truth..

Do you mean important to oneself, or important to one's society? Obviously, they are very important to you, because you live and die by them.
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Old 10-24-2013, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Somewhere
8,070 posts, read 6,925,765 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
It depends on how persuasively you can express it. Think about people whose opinions get disseminated to the world by the mass media, and ask yourself if they are any more likely to be right than you are. They are certainly more important, but may not be right, and in fact usually aren't. because they are often motivated by self-interest rather than truth, and the opiner often has the power to make his opinions self-fulfilling and thereby reflect a future truth..

Do you mean important to oneself, or important to one's society? Obviously, they are very important to you, because you live and die by them.
I think what we need to define is what is "important". Kim Kardashian is important now but most likely(I say most because anything is possible) her opinions are not gonna impact the world 50 years from now

I think in the end most of us, average people are pretty insignificant and our opinions are even more insignificant. 100 years from now we will be nothing more than a name in a family tree or a picture in an old album people might look at every 10 or 20 years. All this suffering and struggle just to become insignificant ashes

Well we don't need to go that far either. When we realize how self absorbed most of us are, we realize others really don't value are opinion as much as we think they do. But even though I know I am insignificant, once I am in a social setting I forget it all and start providing my opinion as IF it really mattered. My self awareness goes down the drain. My ego is stronger than my rationality.
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