I change my mind a lot. Some people think this as a weakness. Then I wondered, What other way is there to think? I suppose I could form an opinion and defend it until I die. That would be a very dogmatic and rigid kind of thinking, or it would appear principled and “strong.”
At any rate it would not be a very adaptive way of thinking. I would have to adapt other things in my life to fit this thinking. My family dynamic, social relations, work-life balance, diet, etc. would all have to take up the slack. But it seems better for some of these things to remain more fixed and my opinions less fixed.
I’m talking in particular about my opinion of human aggression, which has changed more than a few times. My book If These Fists Could Talk details a moment when I was robbed while shooting Rope-A-Dope 2 and my opinions of violence shifted. Then while researching the “Gombe Chimpanzee War” it shifted again, and again possibly also due to getting married, having a kid, starting SuperAlloy, getting divorced, etc. Here’s my best guess as to how my theories of human aggression changed over time. In parentheses I write who or what inspired this.
- 0-15 years old – Aggression is violence when the bad guys do it, and legitimate war when good guys do it (Catholic school).
- 15-20 years old – Aggression is political when the oppressed do it, terrorism when the oppressor does it (public high school and early college, 9/11).
- 2002-2009 – Aggression is an evolutionary fact of life which we inherited from primates, used by any political side for its respective aims (college, moving to San Francisco).
- 2010-2012 – Aggression is a psychological response to stimuli, resolved with art (dealing with depression, Death Grip).
- 2013 – Aggression, particularly human sacrifice, is at the root of society, caused by our mimetic nature which evolved from primates, and escalates to extremes (Girard, making Rope-A-Dope 1 & 2).
- 2014 – Aggression levels differ in people since it’s evolutionary and should be restricted to only the most intelligent in society (Rope-A-Dope 2 robbery and other violent encounters in Bay Area).
- 2015-2017 – Aggression is due to our evolved mimetic nature from primates, but not necessarily at the origin of society (Eric Gans, GOW mocap).
- 2018-2020 – Aggression in humans is unique from in animals because the weapon is a wildcard, all people being basically the same, hypothesizing connection between violence and language with Movement Language (SuperAlloy, God of War Ragnarok).
- 2021-2023 – Aggression in humans defined “recursive” object-based aggression (ROBA), being the precursor to language and other recursive forms. Movement Language shows that art and langauge and all of culture begin with ROBA (dealing with major family issues – deaths, marriage, etc.).
- 2024 – ROBA redefined as “reciprocal” object-based aggression, its exchange nature allows it to morph to and from other cultural forms, but need not precede anything (Adam Katz, getting life back on track, settling into single fatherhood, quit drinking, finished book).
When examining this “ledger” of my opinions it’s clear that I never changed my mind due to mere critical thinking. Changes were typically brought about by crises of some kind. I like to think the vector is pointing in the right direction, but no doubt my opinion will keep changing. And one’s opinion only changes by crisis or by miracle. Hopefully it’s the latter from now on.