My dad often told me that you can't hope to learn anything if you only choose to be around people who agree with you and see the world the same as you do.

I read what your dad said and I wanted to write something you already wrote later on anyway:
:p

we humans seem to have grown unable to simply sit with differences of opinion

It can be very challenging to talk about something when the other person constantly tries to persuade you to his/hers ways and everything else is obviously wrong.