If any one can convince me of an error, I shall be very glad to change my opinion, for truth is my business, and nobody was ever yet hurt by it. No; he that continues in ignorance and mistake, it is he that receives the mischief.I've found that admitting you are mistaken is usually a nice way to avoid getting tangled up in lengthy arguments. Admitting error to others is useful, but even more useful is to admit it to yourself, since admitting ignorance is necessary to learning. We can't let psychological hangups prevent us from understanding the truth.
Sometimes I wonder how much of my knowledge is wrong. I'd bet it is a fairly hefty percent, something on the order of 20%. And I'm pretty meticulous and careful about what I believe, because I believe, as Marcus Aurelius does, that "truth is my business".
I recently read Wrong by David H. Freedman, which touches on the subject as well. The book details how science can (and does) go wrong, and how expertise is often misused or misrepresented. It isn't anti-science or anti-expertise, but it is a good guide to how careful we have to be even with the most trust-worthy institutions. I'd highly recommend that book if truth is your business as well.
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