Loserthink: How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America

by Scott Adams

The skill one needs for comparing things is similar in a sense to any other human skill. The people who have been taught to do it right, and the people who have practiced it over time, are going to be a lot better at it than people who are just winging it. Learning a new skill and practicing it is a system that works for just about any talent you can describe. For most other types of skills, we are completely aware of our limited capabilities compared to those who have been trained. For example, I know I shouldn’t get in a fight with someone who has a black belt in karate. I know I shouldn’t get in a debate about statistics with a professional statistician. But if I had never been formally educated in “comparing things,” I probably wouldn’t even know it was a skill that could be improved. And if I don’t know it is a learned skill, I probably think I am good at it already. That kind of blind spot can become a wall in your mental prison.