disregard politics.
back in high school, when i was still learning things that were discovered hundreds (even thousands) of years ago, i would be very acceptive of newly received information. outside of classroom, it would be advices, either from friends, the elderly, or parents.
but the more i see ppl lie, the more diverse the ppl that talk to me becomes (especially during summer 2025), things start to change. i would listen to this person, then align my views with them completely, only for the next person with the same amt of ethos to shatter that view by giving a completely different, sometimes opposite take. this is confusing.
i have ppl directly telling me "oh this has been done before" versus "oh wow this has never been done before." i have heard "you have to do this if you want to win" "you should never do this if you want to win." "that person is a nepo baby and relied on us to win." "that person never relied on [the speaker of previous quote] to win, he completely bootstrapped his way."
so what can i do? i can only receive all of these information and put each take on a wall. then find more information, preferably quantitative, and have my own final take. and it might not always be correct. for example, my posts are mostly anecdotal, which make my personal pieces perhaps more reliable and credible than my take on businesses i have never operated (eg apple). but im not afraid to give my own takes. they can be stupid and not true, but as long as these takes come after my own analysis, i would give my opinion on smth. i will say it, or write it down.
but my take ultimately is a take. and there should be a balance between what i claim, and how controllable that take goes. i should never go so far as to say something is absolutely this or that. in our world, past or present, and especially the future, a lot of things are still uncertain. many things outside of scientific research are nuanced. politics, startup experiences and in-turn advice (ppl with survivalship bias telling everyone to drop out and go to sf), and even just day-to-day takes on very normal, benign things.
i should formulate my opinions and not be afraid to make a voice out of them. at the same time i should have reasonings and evidence back them up. and finally, no matter how good my take is, never be absolute. because most things are not absolute, and there are always outliers.
when i was being reached out to to discuss a hard tech startup that i had no prior technical experience with, i gave my own take from a biotech perspective (which is a very limited perspective), and this is what the other side responded:
"evan, i need to teach you something. you think shipping drugs and cells are more prevalent and more profitable than serving data centers, evs, cold chain logistics, and normal residential consumers? next time do your research, before you give your opinion on smth you barely know about to a person with 30+ years of experience with it."
he's absolutely right.