Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

In 2019, Grant watched a debate between the world record debater, Harish Natarajan, and an unusual challenger, “Debra Jo Prectet,” an anagram Grant gave to the Project Debater artificial intelligence (AI) project. The two sides debated the benefit of preschool subsidies. Going into the debate, 79% of the audience, including Grant, were on Debra’s side in favor of subsidizing preschool education. Grant notes that although she “not only had more data, better evidence, and more evocative imagery—she had the audience on her side” (102), Harish was still able to move the audience from just 13% support to 30%. Grant concludes that in order to persuade people, we too often take an adversarial approach; instead, he argues for a collaborative approach.

Grant recalls a conversation he had with a former student about her desire to go to graduate school. Although his arguments were based in evidence, she told him that he was a logic bully, someone who overwhelms their opponent with logic and facts, making it difficult to respond. At first, he sees this as a good thing, but she tells him that instead of changing her mind, this approach only made her dig in her heels (103).