‘My technique is don’t believe anything. If you believe in something, you are automatically precluded from believing its opposite.’ – Terrance Mckenna apparently
Whose the biggest know-it-all you know?
They meet someone new and get the impression he’s a dick.
The potential dick and the know-it-all chat for a minute and go separate ways.
It’s concluded that someone new is a dick.
Humans are usually good at first impressions. Heaps of data is processed and instantaneously transformed into an opinion. This speed would have been important to our ancestors.
The table is set.
Subsequent information is based on this initial impression.
Your know-it-all parts the Red Sea of information. Any word or gesture that can prove them right will. The rest is discarded.
If this all happened 20 seconds later perhaps someone new thought of something funny. The first impression changes and everything else is a little funnier. Or perhaps he said something insightful but the know-it-all didn’t notice, too busy proving them self right.
Human’s are bad at updating first impressions. This isn’t about judging a book by it’s cover though. This same structure underlies all thinking.
Thought Unfinished 