It sounds like you are interpreting Paul Graham to mean, 'if one of a person's ideas is conventionally accepted, then the source of that opinion is whatever it's currently acceptable to believe'.
I interpreted this to mean, 'if all of a person's ideas are conventionally accepted, then the source of their opinions are whatever it's currently acceptable to believe'.
Part of why I interpreted this passage the way I did was because this builds on Graham earlier post titled 'What You Can't Say':
> Let's start with a test: Do you have any opinions that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of your peers?
> If the answer is no, you might want to stop and think about that. If everything you believe is something you're supposed to believe, could that possibly be a coincidence? Odds are it isn't. Odds are you just think what you're told. [1]
I think what both of his sentiments are missing is that we should try to shape society such that the good beliefs are also the conventional ones, instead of praising people for having unconventional beliefs for its own sake.
I interpreted this to mean, 'if all of a person's ideas are conventionally accepted, then the source of their opinions are whatever it's currently acceptable to believe'.
Part of why I interpreted this passage the way I did was because this builds on Graham earlier post titled 'What You Can't Say':
> Let's start with a test: Do you have any opinions that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of your peers?
> If the answer is no, you might want to stop and think about that. If everything you believe is something you're supposed to believe, could that possibly be a coincidence? Odds are it isn't. Odds are you just think what you're told. [1]
[1] http://paulgraham.com/say.html