If we pop another stack frame, I think there's a deeper level of meaning to the statement "Smart people change their minds".
Smart people are open to evidence and argument. But also I think many really smart people recognise that their own cognition is a mutable thing, that the mind changes as we age and that we can play a role in that. They change their minds.
By immersing themselves in hard, interesting problems, surrounding themselves with other smart or inspiring people and by savouring experiences - that they change the thoughts that occur to them, the memories they can build upon, and the way in which they can form conclusions.
Maybe the really really smart people can even direct change in their mind about how they change their mind.
Then again, maybe that kind of meta-cogitation is tail-recursive.
Smart people are open to evidence and argument. But also I think many really smart people recognise that their own cognition is a mutable thing, that the mind changes as we age and that we can play a role in that. They change their minds.
By immersing themselves in hard, interesting problems, surrounding themselves with other smart or inspiring people and by savouring experiences - that they change the thoughts that occur to them, the memories they can build upon, and the way in which they can form conclusions.
Maybe the really really smart people can even direct change in their mind about how they change their mind.
Then again, maybe that kind of meta-cogitation is tail-recursive.