Andrew Huth

September 21, 2021

Certainty is a smell

Software development has the concept of a code smell. Certain patterns aren't necessarily "bad", but may indicate deeper problems and warrant further investigation.

Certainty, someone expressing an idea without allowing for the possibility they're wrong, is like that. They may be right. But many times they have flawed reasoning.

(This doesn't mean confidence is bad. Truly being confident also means accepting that you can and will be wrong)