每日原则：每个人都有权利和义务去设法了解重要的事情

在各种思考问题的过程中，会出现如下情形：需要与那些同你观点不一致的人逐渐消除分歧，直至你们达成一致；或者也可以追随对方的观点，即便其想法看似仍不合理。我的建议是，如果存在分歧的问题很重要，就采纳前一种方法；如果不太重要，就采纳后一种方法。我理解，前一种方法可能会造成尴尬，因为对方可能会变得不耐烦。为了抵消这种影响，我建议你简单地说上一句：“你我都知道，我就是有点儿愚钝，但我仍希望能理解这个问题，所以咱们花点时间来帮我弄清楚吧。”

每个人都应该可以自由发问，但同时记住自己有义务在相应讨论中保持开放心态。把你们的辩论记录下来，以便万一你们无法达成共识或弄清情况，可以把意见发给别人供决策参考。当然，要记住你是在创意择优下工作——别忘了你自己的可信度大小。

There will come a point in all processes of thinking things through when you are faced with the choice of requiring the person who sees things differently from you to slowly work things through until you see things the same way, or going along with the other person, even though their thinking still doesn’t seem to make sense. I recommend the first path when you are disagreeing about something important and the latter when it’s unimportant. I understand that the first path can be awkward because the person you are speaking to can get impatient. To neutralize that I suggest you simply say, “Let’s agree that I am a dumb shit but I still need to make sense of this, so let’s move slowly to make sure that happens.”

One should always feel free to ask questions, while remembering one’s obligation to remain open-minded in the discussions that follow. Record your argument so that if you can’t get in sync or make sense of things, you can send it out so others can decide. And of course, remember that you are operating in an idea meritocracy—be mindful of your own believability.