I used to be anti-nuclear energy until I learned a bunch of science and engineering behind it. Turns out things are less scary when you know more about them.
Edit: I also learned that it's okay, and usually preferable, to not have a strong opinion about things that you don't know about.
Before using AI for the first time: "Holy shit this is gonna be dope!"
Aftwr using AI: "Yo wtf? This is bullshit."
Google, Reddit, etc. are good. Now I know the horrors and they are obviously our worst enemies.
That we don't need school and it's useless. I used to not like going to school when I was younger. Now I love it and look forward to almost every day, especially now that this is my last year in high school.
In high school, I was pro-death penalty. As part of a class on politics, I was randomly assigned the anti-death penalty position to research and debate on. I very quickly changed my opinion when I learned about the systemic racism involved. Now I'm an anarchist
I used to joke about eating two animals for every one a vegetarian didn't eat. I've been vegan for over a decade now, pulled a bit of an uno reverse in my early twenties.
I used to be excited and optimistic about new technologies. Now I'm just jaded.
I wasn't a supporter of euthanasia until I worked in a residential aged care facility.
I used to assume police were generally trustworthy and I could believe their version of any given event. Now I believe nothing they say without supporting video evidence.
Homophobia was the norm where I grew up in the '80s and '90s. Took me until the late '90s to start questioning that, and probably a year or two more to become completely cleansed of it.
I used to believe in a woman's right to choose. Then I got married, and having my wife always pick what we do had gotten us into some really boring shit. I would like to choose from time to time.
Used to make fun of small cars and "ricers". Now I have like 3 of them and hate large vehicles.
That a dictatorship led by a "good, strong leader" would be enough to fix any country. Held that belief from ages 16-22. With time, I understood that it would devolve into a bad strong leader anyway, especially because any one single person cannot realistically do everything at such a large scale, nor can they ensure that everyone down the chain of command is "good". Paranoia would seep in, more and more resources would be spent hunting "the bad ones", innocents would be wrongfully accused either by honest mistake or by malicious enemies.
Nowadays, I really enjoy the idea of "Do not take for yourself any power that you would loathe your worst enemy to have" and I wish it could be applied to all levels of politics.
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