"At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justified of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political ideas." - Aldous HuxleyI am always inspired by writers and philosophers who gain insight to the human condition years ago, and it is clear that the same flaw or human trait exists today, only it is probably worse than better from someone having pointed it out. The misery that is being amplified in today's geopolitical climate of stupidity and malice toward others, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing which all inherently fail to listen and respect the views of others, and see that we are all equal within the cosmos.
Stupidity is a harsh and demeaning word as it is generally used as an insult to another. However its definition includes "tendency to make poor decisions or careless mistakes," and "having or showing the lack of ability to learn and understand things." We have a technology culture now that enhances the ability to create a world view bubble around ourselves. The social networking we create and online tracking that occurs on and across websites tends to reinforce whatever behavior we have. What social media sites have decided for us is that we only want to see new information that fits the pattern of the old information that we have viewed, clicked and searched on. This means that the algorithms become a self re-enforcing system that feeds me more information on my world view, correct or not, that validates the position I take regardless. It actually facilitates poor decision making and lowers ability to learn facts and understand things. Yes, Facebook is making us stupid!
Alan Watts pointed out in the 70s that technology, back then the television set, was beginning to numb the human brain into a passive state, watching an electronic reproduction of life on the screen rather than participating in experiences in the real world. This isolation of people in a private world of their own is really the creation of a mindless crowd. And that generally the spectacles we see on the TV involves depiction of violence and slaying rather than love and connection. This leads one to draw the conclusion that expressions of physical love are far more dangerous than expressions of physical hatred. This leads to a society which is devoted, unintentionally indeed but in actual fact devoted, not to survival but to the actual destruction of life. Fast forward to the 2010s and we have not improved our situation. In fact, it is a lot worse. The TV screen has been replaced by the computer screen and the mobile phone screen. Ever more insidiously isolating us, even as it claims to increase our social connectedness.
If you want to disrupt this effect, then you need to friend people with opposing views, and like all their stuff. You need diversity in your life to mess with the algorithms that are tracking you. Go left when they expect you to go right. I am always amused by the fact that our family Amazon account is used for purchases by everyone in the family, and consequently I see very weird recommendations pop up because my wife or daughter bought something that I have no interest in. We also have ad blockers and script blockers installed on our Web browsers that prevent the cross-site tracking. And finally, you need to turn off the screens and get out and experience real life, and real, meaningful face-to-face interactions with others, getting to know them, their cultures and points of view (even if they are radically opposed to your own)!
