Examine Borrowed Beliefs
Why writing exposes what you actually think and why that matters
I was having drinks with a failed founder a few months ago when it happened.
The moment shattered my illusion of intellectual independence.
Smart guy. Good business sense.
We'd been talking about higher education. The usual topics that make you feel sophisticated at 2 AM.
Then the conversation shifted to AI, and suddenly I could see the future.
Not the future of technology.
The future of our conversation.
I started to get a gauge on his opinions during our discussion of previous topics.
I knew exactly what he was about to say. Down to the specific phrases he'd use before he even opened his mouth.
It was like watching someone recite lines from a script they didn't know they were reading.
And then it hit me.
I was doing the same thing.
Breaking Free From Intellectual Conformity
This wasn't the first time I'd experienced this strange deja vu.
The pattern had been revealing itself for months: brilliant people with impressive credentials all thinking identical thoughts.
They were NPCs in the simulation of intellectual life.
That sounds harsh. It felt worse discovering I was one of them.
But the real gut punch came later, when I started to understand what this was actually costing me.
Every predictable thought was a missed opportunity.
Every recycled insight was a chance to see something others couldn't that slipped away.
While I was busy reciting the script, the people building the future were writing their own lines.
The most valuable opportunities in life emerge from seeing what others miss. From holding beliefs that haven't reached the consensus yet.
Peter Thiel captured this with his famous interview question: "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
Borrowed Thoughts Aren't Yours
That conversation stuck with me for weeks.
I found myself reviewing and reflecting on what I actually believed.
Where did they come from?
When did I form these ideas?
What was really mine versus what I'd absorbed?
The results embarrassed me.
Fragments of podcasts masquerading as insights. Book summaries I'd confused with understanding. Dinner party conversations that had somehow become my worldview.
I consumed "quality" information.
I socialized with other smart people.
But I'd never pressure-tested a single core belief.
Most educated people fall into this trap because intellectual conformity feels like safety. You can't be wrong if you're thinking what everyone else is thinking.
Except.
When everyone's thinking the same thing, no one's thinking very much at all.
Writing Exposes your Actual Beliefs
So how do you break free from a prison you didn't know you were in?
I wish I could tell you there was a moment of clarity. Some dramatic realization that changed everything overnight.
The truth is messier.
Over months of writing these weekly essays, something started shifting. I'd been journaling for years, but this was different. More focused. More deliberate.
Each week, I'd sit down to explore an idea, thinking I knew what I wanted to say. And each week, the act of writing would expose how little I actually understood my own thoughts.
The beliefs I thought were mine turned out to be fragments.
Half-formed ideas I'd never pressure-tested. Intellectual hand-me-downs wearing the disguise of original thinking.
Writing became my audit tool.
Not the scattered reflections of journaling, but structured examination of what I actually believed. And why.
Not your opinions.
Your actual beliefs about how the world works.
Fight Daily for Intellectual Sovereignty
That failed founder is still struggling to build a meaningful future.
Still reciting talking points rather than developing genuine insight.
I think about him sometimes when I catch myself slipping back into NPC mode.
Intellectual sovereignty isn't something you achieve once. It's something you have to fight for every single day.
The script is always there, ready to be recited.
The comfort of consensus thinking never stops calling.
Every conversation becomes a mirror. Every belief becomes a question mark.
Am I thinking this because it's useful? Or because it's safe?
Is this actually my thought? Or am I just performing intelligence?
Mediocrity is always waiting to reclaim you.
It’s not a matter of whether you're smart enough to think independently.
But are you brave enough to discover what you actually believe?