Who Is Paul Graham?

Paul Graham is an essayist, author, computer scientist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He is the co-founder of the influential startup accelerator company Y Combinator.

Back in 2009, Paul Graham wrote a short and fascinating essay called ‘Keep Your Identity Small’.

This snappy little piece of writing offers up supermarket-loads of food for thought. There are lessons a-plenty in ‘Keep Your Identity Small’. These lessons can massively improve your life if you apply them to yourself and to the people you meet as you navigate the social world.

These lessons can also offer humanity a way out of many of the potentially lethal quandaries it currently finds itself in.

Politics and Religion Often Yield Useless Discussions

Why do conversations about topics such as politics and religion so frequently descend into unproductive arguments?

Why do discussions about topics such as javascript and astrophysics rarely, if ever, descend into such arguments?

The answer is that people identify with their opinions about politics and religion. People see their political and religious opinions as a core part of their identity.

Mistaking Subjective Opinion For Truth

People feel no need to have any actual expertise in the areas of politics or religion to have deeply held, and passionately defended, opinions about them. People conflate their baseless opinions with THE TRUTH.

In topics such as javascript and astrophysics, only people who have at least some knowledge of the area will have an opinion.

But in emotive areas like politics and religion every Tom, Dick, and Harry has an opinion!

Unfortunately, what matters in conversations about politics and religion is opinion. No matter how baseless these opinions may be! And more often than not, unfortunately and tragically, facts take a backseat.

Because objective truth is very difficult to discover in areas such as religion and politics, all opinions are insisted to be equal. Very often, even patently irrational, unreasonable and ridiculous opinions are given undeserved respect in these areas.

Strong convictions and gut instincts are what people base their arguments on in the realms of politics and religion, not facts.

Defending Identity

The problem with ‘hot button’ topics such as politics and religion is that people allow their ideas in these areas to become their identity. Most people passionately identify with their political and religious ideas.

People are often viciously partisan in these areas.

Baseless (and often obviously barmy) beliefs, held close to the heart and passionately considered a core component of one’s identity… this is a recipe for disaster.

No Objective Truth = No Hurt Feelings

Because people are so identified in these areas, representing dif...