Some of us are willing to tolerate any sort of personal ridicule in order to avoid supporting the wrong decisions;

The rest of us are willing to support all kinds of wrong decisions, in order to escape any sort of ridicule.

Morgan Freeberg

An insightful comment on the difference between liberals and not-liberals. Freeberg calls it Yin and Yang, where Yin are the people who go out and build things, and Yang are the people who socialize and network.

The Yin theory is actually a very accurate description of my life. I'm a builder by nature; I spent my entire childhood playing with LEGOs or K'Nex. Yes, there was running around outside with the standard compliment of boy's toys (GI Joes, Nerf guns, bat and ball), but I spent an equal amount of time making things. I didn't bother developing social skills until I got to high school, and was well in to college before they were sufficiently advanced that I could deal with people normally.

What is critical to Freeberg's theory is that for a Yin to make something, he has to understand how things actually work. If his knowledge of reality is wrong, what he makes won't work. And he is forced by his experiences to modify his knowledge of reality. See engineers for further details.

The Yang, however, want to show that they have the right social connections. They have to show they are connected to the right people, and distinguish themselves from those who are not. But fashion and popularity aren't really constrained by physics, so they can go in any bizarre direction.

Which brings us back to the quote at the top. Some people want the right answer, and some people want to belong. Very often we have to pick one or the other.

I'd rather be right than popular.

Update: Welcome House of Eratosthenes readers!