Us and Them
I hate how distinctly and forcefully opposing the internet, and to a lesser extent society as a whole, has become. Everything seems to be reduced to a fundamental good vs bad, a right and wrong, with everyone needing to be on “the right side” regardless of the subject or their knowledge upon it.
I believe that in order to live a truly consequential life you must be aware of two core principles that directly oppose this trend:
- That nothing is ever perfectly concrete, such that even the simplest of claims may have environments in which they break down.
- That in order to truly understand a subject to a great enough extent to confidently make an assumption to a “right”, you must input such a level of effort that it would be effectively impossible to do this for every subject.
The result of these principles is that you may realise a certain level of abstraction is required for the vast majority of subjects in order to truly understand the few you are dedicated to. Then, and only then, may you be able to give a valuable insight into what may be “right” and what may be “wrong”, whilst also understanding the cavets and naunces of that claim.