About Old-Fashioned Confusion

The Name

“Trendy open-mindedness looks like old-fashioned confusion.”

– Phil Tetlock, in Expert Political Judgement

I’m confused about lots of things and hoping to become less confused, in part through this blog. I want to be open to many ideas, but not so open that I just end up with no strong convictions. At the moment, it seems fair to say that I’m in a state of something like “old-fashioned confusion.”

The Goal

This blog is meant to be a place for me to record my thinking on various topics as they evolve. As common sense would predict, I’ve found that writing summaries and explanations of things as I learn them helps me clarify my thoughts, improves retention, and might be of use to others.

Making a blog then serves as a repository of those thoughts and socially incentivizes me to actually write or produce small projects as I go. It also makes it totally clear when I’m not writing and so holds me accountable.

Writing here is aimed at helping me flesh out my thinking and explore ideas. The posts will often be first passes, impressions, and rough summaries.

Kinds of Writing You’ll Find Here

1. Sketches of ideas that I’ve been reading about or thinking about
2. Summaries, reviews, and thoughts on books
3. Forecasts that I’ve made
4. Fun posts with neat facts

Thanks for reading!