Open to explore possibility

[Angrboda]

Speaking for myself, my goal isn't to maximize my happiness but to have as few false beliefs as possible.

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."
--George Bernard Shaw

That is very true. And I think that feels like a broader conversation to have. Is it better to believe and know as many true things as possible? Better than believing things that are false?

For me, having been lied to and finding out the truth, from the perspective of having to find out and going through that traumatic pain, for that reason, I'd say I want to believe in as many true things as possible. I don't think it's a good reason, though. Because what if I never found out something was false but it was something I could have found out? If I never did, all my life, the reveal never hurt me. In what ways did the false belief hurt me? Is the bare truth and reality always better/inherently good(in a wellbeing sense)?

True propositions generally have greater instrumental utility than false ones. It was something of a myth that religion kept Europe in the dark ages, but it illustrates the conundrum. If believing false things retards growth, that's a significant downside.