I changed my mind

Today, I did some research for a video, which changed my mind about a topic I had a strong opinion on… I was so happy it did.

I won’t share specifically what the topic was, because it would spoil the video, but let’s just say it’s a niche one.

But here’s the thing: for that opinion to change, I had to do a lot of research.

For the majority of my videos, unless they’re on the simpler side, I do lots of pre-work. I research my topic, find studies and credible sources, and I reference them when I’m making my points.

I do this because I want to make sure my videos, or I guess the points I’m making in my videos, are as well-rounded as possible. I talk about books and reading in the content I create, but I talk about these topics in a way that kind of requires a little bit of science or psychology to back me up.

I could create videos that just contain my opinions, or my own anecdotal experiences, but I don’t think I’d be sharing very accurate information. I think I’d just be winging it. That doesn’t really sit well with me.

I also do a lot of research because, well, I like it. I enjoy the learning process. The manual nature of looking up research on a specific topic and compiling that research into a credible argument. It makes me feel a real sense of satisfaction doing that myself. It’s like a personal achievement.

Especially now, when you could just ask something like ChatGPT to do the research for you. Which, by the way, is one of the least reliable things you could do, but that’s a topic for another post. Doing it myself is something I will not budge on.

If the goal is for me to create a well-rounded argument, then relying on an LLM (Large Language Model like ChatGPT) to do the research for me defeats the point, because it’s likely going to just make stuff up.

So for this particular video, I was researching and writing this script for hours. I found articles, studies, references, and in that time, I kept having to shift and adapt my script to accommodate the information I was finding.

In the end, I came to a different conclusion than I initially thought I would. My opinion hadn’t completely shifted, but it morphed into something different. Something with a little more empathy and a lot more information to back it up.

This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t done that research.

It made me weirdly giddy when I realised my opinion, and therefore the video’s conclusion had to change. I was happy about it. I felt like I now had the full picture and my final decision, or opinion, had some solidity to it because I’d understood it from as many angles as possible.

That’s what forming an opinion should feel like. But of course, it doesn’t work that way.

Who, in their right mind, is going to spend hours and hours researching a very specific topic to form an opinion on it? Unless it’s your special interest, it’s very unlikely to happen.

Most people, myself included, will have an opinion on a certain topic that is mainly influenced by the information we’re fed. This could be due to our upbringing, the media we consume, the people we surround ourselves with, or our gut instinct (which is often influenced by all these factors).

This can range from your opinion on what drugs should be legalised (if any), to whether you think audiobooks count as reading or not.

Depending on how ‘important’ you deem the topic to your life, you might never look anything up. You might never question your own thoughts, opinions, or beliefs. You might stay rooted and never change them.

It’s a lot of work after all.

A good example of this is the political party you vote for. In the UK, this has typically been (until recently) something that follows down the family line. Especially when it comes to the two main parties here, the Conservatives and Labour. Whole families will vote for one of these two parties because it’s the way it has always been done. Even if it no longer benefits them.

Of course, this has changed more recently with the Conservatives royally fucking up and Labour on the verge of doing the same thing. But I digress (I’ve always wanted to write that).

My point is, I think it’s easy to judge people when they don’t know quite as much as you about something. Especially when that thing is political in nature. It seems obvious to you because you’ve done the research. Or you have the privilege of a life where you were taught critical thinking skills, or had the opportunity to use them, or learn in some capacity.

But in reality, not everyone has the time or resources to do that kind of work. Or let’s be honest, the will to do it.

So what do we do in situations like this? I think it’s part of our role to do the research, consolidate it, and deliver it to as many people as possible in the easiest-to-digest way possible. In a manner that is kind, engaging, and, if the tone asks for it, fun.

That’s my aim, anyway.