One thing that I like about pub culture is the tendency to end up talking with people you don’t know. Sometimes they’re drunk, sometimes they have very strong opinions. Occassionally, you end up with a memorable conversation that changes how you think.

I’ll be giving a short introduction to the first keynote speakers for Open Source Bridge (for the morning of June 17), and was thinking about this when I came across a blog post about the Demise of Should (via @cshirky).

What I’m writing about is how being confronted, sometimes rudely, can help you gain a little perspective. I know that I live in an open source echo chamber most of the time. But last night I got an ear full from a couple people who think that open source people are ignorant, entitled assholes.

I’ll leave out the punchline… but suffice to say, I had a pretty entertaining drinking buddy for the night.

How do you find opinions in our industry that differ from your own? How often do you have conversations with others, in person, where someone strongly disagrees with you?

Photo courtesy of Jaako under Creative Commons.