A drowning man is not picky about whether you toss him a cotton rope or a sisal rope, an old rope or a new rope, a half-inch rope or a one-inch rope.
But a man who was formerly drowning but now has a good hold on a nice one-inch hawser won't like being pelted with monofilament fishing line while he's trying to concentrate on climbing out.
I love to learn; but what I love most to learn is stuff that's better or more true than what I already know. If I know that tomatoes are delicious and healthy and can be used to make wonderful Italian dishes, it doesn't do me any good to read a book from the 1700s telling me that they're deadly poison--other than that it's a mildly amusing piece of trivia that might be entertaining at parties.
Over the past dozen years or so, I've found many, many things that I formerly believed that turned out not to have been true, and I've joyfully replaced them with things that are much more true--although they may still not be completely correct.
If you have something for me that's more true than something I already believe, I will replace mine with yours just as joyfully. If you have something that's
not as true as what I already believe, I'm interested in that too, simply because of the personal respect I have for you; but even in the face of that respect, more-true will trump less-true every time.
I hope that doesn't cause offense.
