# Keep Your Identity Small
#done 

![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article0.00998d930354.png)
[[ReadWise]]
## Metadata
- Author: [[paulgraham.com]]
- Full Title: Keep Your Identity Small
- Category: #articles
- URL: http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

## Highlights
- All they need is strongly held beliefs, and anyone can have those
- What's different about religion is that people don't feel they need to have any particular expertise to have opinions about it.
- any mention of religion on an online forum degenerates into a religious argument. Why? Why does this happen with religion and not with Javascript or baking or other topics people talk about on forums?
- on religion everyone's an expert.
- No thread about Javascript will grow as fast as one about religion,
- you can have a fruitful discussion about a topic only if it doesn't engage the identities of any of the participants
- discussion about a battle that included citizens of one or more of the countries involved would probably degenerate into a political argument.
- **it's not politics that's the source of the trouble, but identity.**
- When people say a discussion has degenerated into a religious war, what they really mean is that it has started to be driven mostly by people's identities. [1]
- One possible explanation is that **they deal with questions that have no definite answers, so there's no back pressure on people's opinions**
- I think what r**eligion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that's part of their identity. By definition they're partisan.**
- There are certainly some political questions that have definite answers, like how much a new government policy will cost.
- **Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs.**
- discussion today about a battle that took place in the Bronze Age probably wouldn't. No one would know what side to be
- Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. **All you need is strong convictions.**
- What makes politics and religion such minefields is that they engage so many people's identitie
- discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas. **If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.**
- it explains not merely which kinds of discussions to avoid, but **how to have better ideas.**
- The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.
# Keep Your Identity Small

![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article0.00998d930354.png)

## Metadata
- Author: [[paulgraham.com]]
- Full Title: Keep Your Identity Small
- Category: #articles
- URL: http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html

## Highlights
- All they need is strongly held beliefs, and anyone can have those
- What's different about religion is that people don't feel they need to have any particular expertise to have opinions about it.
- any mention of religion on an online forum degenerates into a religious argument. Why? Why does this happen with religion and not with Javascript or baking or other topics people talk about on forums?
- on religion everyone's an expert.
- No thread about Javascript will grow as fast as one about religion,
- you can have a fruitful discussion about a topic only if it doesn't engage the identities of any of the participants
- discussion about a battle that included citizens of one or more of the countries involved would probably degenerate into a political argument.
- it's not politics that's the source of the trouble, but identity.
- When people say a discussion has degenerated into a religious war, what they really mean is that it has started to be driven mostly by people's identities. [1]
- One possible explanation is that they deal with questions that have no definite answers, so there's no back pressure on people's opinions
- I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that's part of their identity. By definition they're partisan.
- There are certainly some political questions that have definite answers, like how much a new government policy will cost.
- Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs.
- discussion today about a battle that took place in the Bronze Age probably wouldn't. No one would know what side to be
- Politics, like religion, is a topic where there's no threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. All you need is strong convictions.
- What makes politics and religion such minefields is that they engage so many people's identitie
- discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas. If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.
- it explains not merely which kinds of discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas.
- The more labels you have for yourself, the dumber they make you.