No opinion

Do we always have to have an opinion on everything? It’s a tendency that is hard to resist, but it may be worth practising being comfortable with an absence of opinion

Many moons ago, my younger daughter got me a present on Father’s Day: a mug depicting Homer Simpson with the inscription, “No Opinion”. The Simpsons connection was to be expected, as I was a known Simpsons fan at the time — my modest but significant collection of T-shirts depicting members from the cartoon family was testimony to it. The inscription, however, was a fine case of perspicacity. Often to my daughter’s despair, I used to (and still do) frequently reply to the question what I thought about this, that or the other, that I had no opinion on the matter. Children, they know you so well.

I thought about that mug when I recently saw a tweet with a poll from the economist Robin Hanson, in which he asked how people pick an opinion on matters where certain views might be considered heretical. Alongside avoiding having an opinion altogether, he provided three other possibilities: siding with the usual authorities (whoever they might be), pick a provocative one to signal independence, or think things through in detail.

About 15% chose the contrarian option — which didn’t look out of the ordinary…