Reflections on The Scout Mindset

This is a cross post from my blog post.

Last year, I read Julia Galef’s book The Scout Mindset.

It argues that many people have a “soldier mindset.” They hold strongly to a set of beliefs because these beliefs benefit them in some way. And, as a result, whenever these people come across new information, they hold onto their beliefs regardless of what the information says. For instance, if something confirms what they already think, they’ll easily accept it. But, if it doesn’t confirm what they think, they’ll be suspicious of it or try to come up with a reason to think it doesn’t challenge their beliefs. 

Galef argues that this is problematic because the truth is good. When you have an incorrect worldview, the effects or your actions may not be what you expect, and you may be unable to actually put your values into action.

Because of this, Galef suggests that we should give up the soldier mindset and adopt a scout mindset instead. Rather than seeking clinging onto what we wish was true, we should seek out the truth as it is. When we come across new information, we should be open to it, assuming it fits our epistemic standards. And, rather than clinging to beliefs, we should allow them to change over time as we learn new information.

When I first read this book, it was something of a revelation. I had always known that there was a feeling deep inside of me pushing me towards false beliefs, but I had never before been able to recognize it so clearly. It’s impossible to avoid motivated reasoning entirely, but this book really helped me reduce it.

And, as a result, I began engaging with information and beliefs in a very different way than I had before. In the past, if I didn’t know much about a topic, I would still have a strong opinion on it. Now, if I don’t know much, I’ll usually admit it and have very low confidence in everything I say. And, in the past, if I heard an argument with some crazy conclusion, I would dismiss it not because the argument was false, but, instead because I didn’t like its conclusion.

Overall, I feel that the scout mindset has helped me to get a lot closer to the truth.

At the same time, I can also recognize that the scout mindset has some downsides.

For one, the scout mindset can be pretty distressing. Because Galef argues that you should hold beliefs independent of how they make you feel, I’ve given up many beliefs that give my life meaning. Although this process has been depressing, I feel like the truth is worth it.

For two, the scout mindset has caused me to adopt a lot more extremist beliefs. For instance, I read a book, which argues that we have a profound obligation to work on reducing existential risk because virtually all of humanity’s potential lies in the future. Normally, if I had read such an argument, I would maybe have defended it in casual conversation but not actually believed that we should act upon it. But, because of the scout mindset, I decided to pretty much completely adopt the belief as my worldview.

Now, I understand that this was a major mistake.

If you hear a convincing argument for a belief, that isn’t sufficient to justify adopting it as your own. If you really want to get to the truth of a matter, you have to assess the arguments on both sides.

And, the more extreme a belief is, the more you should probably be skeptical of it since it will have more of an impact on how you act in the real world.

So, given all this, I thought I’d share my current view on how to seek the truth (without going insane):

1. Observe that you hold onto and defend your beliefs.
2. Observe why you do this and what benefits come from clinging to your beliefs.
3. Reflect on what really matters to you.
4. If truth is what really matters, then make a practice of releasing your clinging to your beliefs. This can be difficult because we rarely recognize when we’re clinging onto beliefs, but just staying aware of your emotions when you’re reading information can be helpful. When you have the feeling that you want to defend a belief, practice processing and letting go of that emotion rather than holding onto the belief.
5. Rather than clinging to beliefs, try to seek out the truth as it is, engaging in the bravery necessary to believe information that you may wish wasn’t true, while still holding consistent epistemic standards.
6. Systematically work on making your view of the world more accurate by assessing the arguments for and against the most important aspects of your worldview.
7. When you hear a new idea, don’t immediately reject it, but, also, don’t immediately adopt it. Look into the arguments for and against the idea, and the more you understand about the argument, the more you should increase your confidence in favor or against it.