Not Agreeing Better!
Hi! Happy Wednesday!
Irreni World Scale is about solutions, not punditry.
Today's solution is how to "not agree" better by use of "I don't know."
We are all only human. We are all each others keeper. We are all humans sharing in the experience of denial, cognitive dissonance and group think. Therefore we depend on each other to pull back the emotional curtains so we can accept reality as it is and not how we wish it to be. By accepting our shared human nature we can "not agree" better.
You might be asking, "But what about the stories being reported in the news?"
What about them?
When I read the news the first question that I use to evaluate the news is this:
If the answer to this question is "no" then I form no opinion which means any subsequent question about my opinion is "I don't know."
Russia hacking the election is not something in my life I will be making any decisions or acting on in any way. There is no upside to forming an opinion. There is a huge down side though: emotional investment that leads to denial, cognitive dissonance and group think.
A lot of people claim to be just about the facts. I don't. I don't even though I claim to be evidenced base where personally I do not refer to myself as an atheist, but evidenced.
Human nature means we aren't computers. We don't just work on facts. We are emotional creatures. This means that every single one of us is susceptible to denial, cognitive dissonance and group think. Every single one of us.
The use of "I don't know" is the best defense against investing wasted emotional energy and thereby getting into denial, cognitive dissonance and the confirmation bias of group think unnecessarily.
Emotions aren't a zero sum game but neither are they free. If you invest your emotions in something that you do not have any control over, or interact with then you will stress out because the emotional energy has a nowhere outlet.
Today's politics do not stress me out. Nor has politics ever stressed me out. Because on almost every political question I answer, "I don't know."
A healthy respect for using "I don't know" has been a great benefit to me in managing stress and conversely investing energy correctly to care about the things I can control or influence. In some ways using "I don't know" reflects the the Serenity prayer.
Using "I don't know" defines being an atheist. Atheism as the topic is always typically depicted as an opposition arguments against religion. That is not the case. Atheists today use "I don't know." Ask any atheist if the following statement is true for them:
What I do know as an anti-theist is that all of the supernatural claims made by every religion are false because there is no evidence of the supernatural acting upon the natural world. None. Every religion ever relies on belief in the supernatural . For me this means 100% of all religions are false for one simple reason: the supernatural has no evidence.
The distinction between being an atheist and an anti-theist is atheist is defined by "I don't know" and being an anti-theist is based on lack of evidence.
The Serenity prayer needs an update then:
We are all only human. We are all each others keeper. We are all humans sharing in the experience of denial, cognitive dissonance and group think. Therefore we depend on each other to pull back the emotional curtains so we can accept reality as it is and not how we wish it to be. By accepting our shared human nature we can "not agree" better.
I don't know if Russia hacked the election and hopefully neither do you unless you are actually involved with managing that problem.
Cheers!
Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!
Politics as Science!
Demand Irreni World Scale!
Anti-theism is feminism!
Think disruption!
Empathy for all!
Moral relativity: think it, breath it!
Prove it or lose it!
Conversations equal consensus!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Scale your empathy, scale the world!
Find your tribe!
Be sexy people!
The future is coming!
Innovate at a rapid pace!
Slow speed ahead!
Well come! and well met!
Irreni World Scale is about solutions, not punditry.
Today's solution is how to "not agree" better by use of "I don't know."
We are all only human. We are all each others keeper. We are all humans sharing in the experience of denial, cognitive dissonance and group think. Therefore we depend on each other to pull back the emotional curtains so we can accept reality as it is and not how we wish it to be. By accepting our shared human nature we can "not agree" better.
Q: "Did Russia hack purposely influence the Presidential election?"
A: "I don't know."
You might be asking, "But what about the stories being reported in the news?"
What about them?
When I read the news the first question that I use to evaluate the news is this:
Does the information rise to the level of decision making?
If the answer to this question is "no" then I form no opinion which means any subsequent question about my opinion is "I don't know."
Russia hacking the election is not something in my life I will be making any decisions or acting on in any way. There is no upside to forming an opinion. There is a huge down side though: emotional investment that leads to denial, cognitive dissonance and group think.
A lot of people claim to be just about the facts. I don't. I don't even though I claim to be evidenced base where personally I do not refer to myself as an atheist, but evidenced.
Human nature means we aren't computers. We don't just work on facts. We are emotional creatures. This means that every single one of us is susceptible to denial, cognitive dissonance and group think. Every single one of us.
The use of "I don't know" is the best defense against investing wasted emotional energy and thereby getting into denial, cognitive dissonance and the confirmation bias of group think unnecessarily.
Emotions aren't a zero sum game but neither are they free. If you invest your emotions in something that you do not have any control over, or interact with then you will stress out because the emotional energy has a nowhere outlet.
Today's politics do not stress me out. Nor has politics ever stressed me out. Because on almost every political question I answer, "I don't know."
A healthy respect for using "I don't know" has been a great benefit to me in managing stress and conversely investing energy correctly to care about the things I can control or influence. In some ways using "I don't know" reflects the the Serenity prayer.
The irony here is that "I don't know" replaces "God" and actually manages our human nature.
- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Using "I don't know" defines being an atheist. Atheism as the topic is always typically depicted as an opposition arguments against religion. That is not the case. Atheists today use "I don't know." Ask any atheist if the following statement is true for them:
I don't know how the universe was created and so how the universe was created has an infinite set of possibilities.
What I do know as an anti-theist is that all of the supernatural claims made by every religion are false because there is no evidence of the supernatural acting upon the natural world. None. Every religion ever relies on belief in the supernatural . For me this means 100% of all religions are false for one simple reason: the supernatural has no evidence.
The distinction between being an atheist and an anti-theist is atheist is defined by "I don't know" and being an anti-theist is based on lack of evidence.
The Serenity prayer needs an update then:
The humility of using "I don't know" grants me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, allows me to focus and concentrate Courage to change the things I can, and the pursuit of knowledge gives me the Wisdom to know the difference.
We are all only human. We are all each others keeper. We are all humans sharing in the experience of denial, cognitive dissonance and group think. Therefore we depend on each other to pull back the emotional curtains so we can accept reality as it is and not how we wish it to be. By accepting our shared human nature we can "not agree" better.
I don't know if Russia hacked the election and hopefully neither do you unless you are actually involved with managing that problem.
Cheers!
Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!
Politics as Science!
Demand Irreni World Scale!
Anti-theism is feminism!
Think disruption!
Empathy for all!
Moral relativity: think it, breath it!
Prove it or lose it!
Conversations equal consensus!
Welcome to the 21st century!
Scale your empathy, scale the world!
Find your tribe!
Be sexy people!
The future is coming!
Innovate at a rapid pace!
Slow speed ahead!
Well come! and well met!
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