The hardest thing about skepticism and critical thinking, for me, was giving up some of the ideologies I thought were positive.
The best example I can give is probably with politics. Traditionally I'm what you call a liberal - a left wing kind of guy who would traditionally vote for the furthest left standing for election.
In New Zealand that probably puts me in the Green camp. But the scientist in me finds that an intolerable position.
Not only was their opposition to the trans-Tasman amalgamation of medicine regulators TGA and Medsafe based on beliefs that were just plain wrong, their over-arching love of 'natural' products often invokes a huge amount of pseudo-science.
But the biggest thing is probably their anti-nuclear stance. I listen to the wonderful Brian Dunning's Skeptoid podcast, and I listened to his nuclear power podcast with a great deal of well. . . skepticism.
But in 10 minutes I was forced to face a firmly held belief and read more about the issue. The more I read, the more I realised the likelihood that New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance is probably based on information that is years, if not decades, old and any debate about nuclear power should be about the science as it is, not was.
I still think there's some validity in a country willing to push it's clean, green image for tourism purposes, but in a country which will face electricity shortages in the future it's madness not to debate the issue in a proper fashion.
The same is true for genetically modified crops. It only took 10 minutes to make me realise my long-held position against the crops was not only logically flawed but probably ignorant as well.
Of course, like a true skeptic I didn't just take Brian Dunnings word for it. Nor would he expect anyone to, I imagine.
I read, and - probably for the first time in my life - I'm making decisions solely based on critical thinking rather than because of where I am in the political spectrum or what I was brought up believing.
And you know what? It's not comfortable. Sometimes this puts me in the same box as right-wing politicians I would normally disagree with every ounce of my being.
Thankfully the internet - and Facebook and Twitter in particular - means a skeptic never needs to stand alone any more. And for that I'll be forever thankful.
