4 Ways I’ve Changed My Mind in the Past 10 Years

Since turning 30, I’ve found myself on the opposite side of many of the same arguments I had in my 20s. Here are four of those shifts.

T his past month, I went back and reread the book Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. The first time I read the book was back in 2013 and, ever since, I’ve largely considered it one of my favorite books on economics, the history of finance, and political history. It changed how I thought about money, government, and business.

Yet, this time, I struggled to get through it. Sections I thought were thoroughly researched, I now found to be somewhat myopic and one-sided. Arguments that once convinced me now merely triggered skepticism.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great read and full of fascinating information. But whereas the first time I read it felt like it was showing me all the many ways in which I was wrong, this time I couldn’t help but notice all of the many places where it was potentially wrong.

I love having this experience. There’s nothing like reading an old favorite book many years later to gauge how much more you’ve learned and how much your personal values have changed. I relish being disappointed reading stuff I loved 5–10 years ago. It signals that my thinking has evolved.

I have noticed that since I turned thirty, I have changed my mind on a number of topics. My views have shifted to the point that I now find myself on the opposite of many of the same arguments I had in my 20s.

(Although sometimes it’s hard to know how much you’ve changed and the world has changed, I’ve come to the conclusion that both have changed quite a bit in the past decade.)

I get asked all the time by readers if I’ve changed my mind, if I still agree with what’s written in my books, older articles, podcasts I appeared on five years ago, etc. Below are the four major areas where I’ve seen my beliefs and personal values shift, and why.

Keep in mind that when I say “shift,” I mean it’s as though they’ve moved along on a spectrum between two points. These days, if you say something like, “Wow, I really underestimated the role of genetics in human…