Hmm. I have ready opinions on everything, whether I know what the hell I'm talking about or not. I think this may be a bad thing, therefore have taken to trying to say "I don't know" when my reasons for my opinions (as best I can stacktrace them) don't pass personal muster. Is this bad?
As long as you realize that you have some knowledge, just saying the words is not necessarily bad.
Are you talking about saying "I don't know" verbally or mentally (ie to yourself)? Verbally, it is often the most efficient way to communicate some information. Mentally, it is usually good to explicitly think of what your ignorance prior is. If you have to act on the (lack of) knowledge, at least think of what possibilities are or are not permitted by the evidence. Of course, it is often better to ask someone than to examine your ignorance prior in detail, depending on the situation.
Today's post, "I don't know." was originally published on 21 December 2006. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).
This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we'll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky's old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was The Modesty Argument, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.
Sequence reruns are a community-driven effort. You can participate by re-reading the sequence post, discussing it here, posting the next day's sequence reruns post, or summarizing forthcoming articles on the wiki. Go here for more details, or to have meta discussions about the Rerunning the Sequences series.