The Honesty Box
The British Medical Journal once proposed something called an “Honesty Box” – a place where contributors were supposed to mention oddities in the data, problems that may have shown up in the research. It seems like common sense, especially in light of documented bias like this or this, but it never caught on.
The Wall Street Journal has the balls to called the section where they admit that their mistakes “Corrections and Amplifications.” That doesn’t sound like humility to me.
In The Wisdom of Whores, Pisani gives an entire chapter to the notion of an Honesty Box. She tells us everything that’s wrong or missing or vague about the data behind AIDS. And all of a sudden, she seems above the din of rhetoric and activism.
We could use more honesty boxes.
JP Rangaswami (who has a fantastic site) said it well:
“What I hadn’t appreciated was that, for some classes of information, I would go to Wikipedia in preference to other places because of the willingness of Wikipedia to point out its own provisionality.”
Wikipedia relishes in Honesty Boxes – users are encouraged to challenge the validity of an article on dozens of fronts even if they wrote it themselves. Because Wikipedia enjoys pointing out its own flaws it’s considerably easier to trust than sources that go around pointing out their reputation for quality.
I’ve tried to do this a little more with my site, adding footnotes and links to the books where I got the idea. But I think I want to get more in the business of discussing the flaws in my thinking or the bias I might be holding. One of the best parts of the 48 Laws of Power is at the end of each chapter where Robert admits that it’s not as much of a Law as he made it out to be. There is almost always a reversal.
So for my box:
– Someone rightly pointed that a lot of the stuff I talk about is limited to less scientific fields – it’s harder to leverage new media to make you a better doctor. The internet is not the answer to everything.
– I tend to fall head over heels in love with an idea and then slowly ratchet myself down as I weigh it against subsequent things I’ve learned. It’s better to catch me at that end of the cycle than the beginning.
– I’ve gotten incredibly lucky 3 or 4 times with the people I’ve met. Had I been older, I probably wouldn’t have been granted the same access.
– My Alexa rank is disproportionate to the amount of traffic I actually receive. I get to see a lot of the hard data for other sites and mine is definitely a favorable rank.
– My inability to calmly deal with some of the stupid comments I often get on this site is a sign of a pretty obvious insecurity.
So, if you had to put together an honesty box that went along with the way you presented yourself, what would be in it? It’s mostly rhetorical but think about, what are you not telling people that might their perception if they knew? And are you buying into your own deception?
– The majority of the time I seem to have an upper hand in an argument or discussion can be credited to the experience and knowledge I’ve gained from reading/writing, and a large number of people could be at the same place with that experience.
– I tend to ignore my areas of weakness and talk much more often about my strengths.
– Sometimes I’ll become so immersed with analytical thoughts about myself and my actions that it will affect my behavior/mood, and in turn, my aforementioned actions.(I like to consider and present myself as a person who isn’t negatively affected by emotion.)
– There is a possibility that I will not amount to the great success that I dream to. I may one day have to succumb to either mediocrity or complete failure.
– Lastly, I have a lot to learn. This is something I’ve understood much better from reading your site, and that I’ve taken into account, especially recently, as I’m soon leaving for college.
Also- this is my first comment, but I’ve consistently enjoyed reading your updates, and can always count on them as a personal reminder to stay focused and to keep my head where it needs to be.
“Someone rightly pointed that a lot of the stuff I talk about is limited to less scientific fields – it’s harder to leverage new media to make you a better doctor. The internet is not the answer to everything.”
Actually, Sermo.com has proved that the internet might be able to do just that.
• My hobbies and interests are leading me towards careers that do not fit my lifestyle or abilities at all (e.g. government, corporation, academia).
• My ambitious nature now is in large part due to the humiliation I felt as a child for not knowing basic ideas (such as how to tell when an adult was lying to me).
• I have a toned body and I am strong, but I have chronic pain in almost every joint of my body. I’m a strong rock climber but I’d trade bodies with almost anybody, for the opportunity to build myself up without incurring lifetime injuries first.
• I hate my arrogance as much as you do. But being humble makes me anti-social; so sometimes I make the trade.
• When I was 17, I would habitually think I was actually 19, because all my friends and peers were at least two years older, and I had skipped two years of school. I let most people think I was older, and sometimes, when I knew I would be judged for being so young, I outrightly lied about my age.
Ryan, I enjoy your site. The inability to calmly deal with stupid comments is probably not insecurity, but passion.
And as far as the honesty box goes == those comments make for better reading, even if they aren’t very stoic.
Keep up the good work.
“Michael, what are your biggest weaknesses?”
“Let’s see, biggest weaknesses, umm– I try too hard, I work too much, and I care too much.”
“Ok, Soooo, what are your biggest strengths??”
“Ah ha, you see, my weaknesses are also my strengths.”
“……”
~The Office
– I always appear to be busy and very responsible, but that is usually an overestimate by the people around me (often because they’re not doing pretty much anything apart from, say, going to college, and I’m studying, part-time working and doing some other projects) – in reality, I have lots of trouble sticking to a schedule I make for myself, and I waste a lot of time procrastinating, or multitasking in such a way that none of the tasks get the time they deserve.
– people around me think that because I am a fast thinker, I am also very educated, and though I have, say, read a lot more books than most of them (which isn’t hard, considering that the average books-read-per-year of students in the Philological Faculty of Serbia is a measly 2.4), I am still very ignorant on a lot of topics – the history of Serbia, of the world and the major events (e.g. World Wars), on the details of past political ideologies (e.g. communism) etc.
– I tend to have a hard time saying “no” to people, which often brings me into the aforementioned multitasking problem. Also, with a certain type of people I communicate in an unnecessarily deferential manner, usually because of something from our past where we were in a conflict, even when I know they should be the ones acting deferentially. I think it comes down to sometimes not having enough confidence in my own deeds and words.
On the positive side, I’ve recently scored several small victories in the issues I’ve mentioned here, and the next 6 months in particular will be a big testing ground for all of them.
by admitting that:
“My inability to calmly deal with some of the stupid comments I often get on this site is a sign of a pretty obvious insecurity.”
actually portrays that you are:
(1): willing to except other peoples opinion with an open mind,
(2): facing your fears, and
(3): turn your weaknesses into strengths. (or problems into solutions)
I am proud of you for seeing issues from an unbiased perspective and aiming for absolute truth. not many people can do that in this egoistic world of me, myself and i.
Let’s give credit where credit is due, I only know it because people way smarter me pointed it out multiple times.
Well Ryan, being able to take the advice of others is not a bad quality to have.
I can’t remember where I saw this…It might have even been on your site, but I think this quote is rather fitting:
“A fool is a man who does not learn from his mistakes. A wise man is a man who does learn from his mistakes. A genius is a man who learns from the mistakes of others.”