Challenging ideas

I love that moment when it dawns on you, you’ve learned something and discovered an entirely new way of thinking. I love the reflective pause, followed by the adrenalin surge as your horizons are expanded with a new paradigm for making sense of the world.

So it’s no surprise that I love a robust exchange of ideas, no matter whether it ultimately reaffirms or reshapes my perspective on the world. By the same token, I find it frustrating to witness one-way monologues that override the opportunity for meaningful dialogue.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced this. Trying to engage with someone who has no intent of listening. They’ve found a window to release the prepared one-liners and perspectives they’ve been fed by their favourite commentator who’s best aligned to their biases. I find this form of ideologue frustrating. It takes such little effort. Isn’t our limited time on this planet worth more than this?

Sure, I understand the comfort of an echo chamber. When you believe in something, whether it’s a social, political or community cause, there’s nothing more comforting than hearing validation of your perspective. But it’s not fulfilling. Like eating a whole block of chocolate in a single sitting — while each mouthful might taste great — you know it isn’t good for you.

Rather, the meal I find far more nourishing is taking the time to digest the thoughts of someone who has spent time contemplating what they believe about a given subject.

Words matter

How will you use your time?

So I have a question for you. Do you want to be comfortable or do you want to challenge yourself to be better? Are you absolutely confident that your current world view is 100% on the money, or are you willing to accept that maybe, just maybe, you haven’t got it all perfectly worked out.

If you’re willing to explore the ambiguity of your imperfect opinions, read on. If you’re willing to listen earnestly to other perspectives so that you may enhance or bolster your understanding of the world around you, then I challenge you to continuously expand your circles of conversation. And I might have found one that suits.

It’s easy to scroll through social feeds that have been carefully curated to serve content that will make enjoyable reading. It takes close to no effort to chill with a Netflix binge. And there can be a useful time and place for these things in our lives. But if you want to really contemplate a topic, absorb someone else’s perspective, exchange ideas and learn — you also have to engage the grey matter.

Do you remember the last time you were truly inspired with some form of new knowledge or profound insight? It’s an electric feeling.

And I can’t help think that our society could use more critical thinking right now. As we enter into brave new worlds with AI and machine learning. As we accept that behavioural designers are getting better every day at creating experiences to influence our actions. The stakes and ethical considerations keep getting higher. If we are not consciously exploring the many potential outcomes these things might create, then are we potentially walking past standards that will soon come home to haunt us. I think it’s time to engage in participatory entertainment and foster deep thinking about our world’s future. If you’ve got a forum for this, I’d love to hear about it.

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