Brave New Ways #3 / Echo Chambers, Dissonance, Diversity, Cognitive Tribes
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From Tunnel Vision to Lateral Vision
We live in a world in flux. The past is no longer a reliable guide to the future. In order to survive and thrive, we need to process a lot of new information from new sources.
That’s proving difficult.
We all possess tunnel vision. Any new information about the world must pass through several filters before it can even reach us. And it must pass through several more filters before we’ll accept it.
Some of these filters are new. Some of these filters are ancient. The better we understand our own filters, the more we can play with them. And there are several strong reasons to do so now. First, to counter the echo-chamber effect of algorithms upon how we feel, think and act. Second, to widen our understanding of the increasingly complex systems we live in. Third, to adapt our intuitions to the new information environment we need to contend with...
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Rethink in Data
Here’s a clear example of cognitive tribalism from a 2014 US national survey of science literacy:
“True or False? Human beings developed from earlier species of animals.” 55% of Americans surveyed said: True.
“True or False? According to the theory of evolution, human beings developed from earlier species of animals.” 81% said True.
Adding one clause added 26% to Americans’ scientific literacy. Why? The first version of the question included a hidden test of identity. Many US religious groups reject the theory of evolution as an article of faith. So the question behind the first question was: Whose team are you on?
We’re intelligent animals. We wear information like birds wear colors.
Opportunities for Action
Doing a tour of our cognitive filters can reveal growth opportunities at every scale – individual, group, organization, society.
- Can we notice our own motivated reasoning when we hear news about new technologies – blockchain, AI, nanotech?
- Can we warp our own filters enough to empathize with the ever-widening range of beliefs, attitudes and behaviors we meet?
- Can we detect our organization’s own cognitive tribalism? Can we ignite fresh curiosity about the customers, markets and other things we think we understand already?
Can society find the courage to learn why other countries see things differently – so differently that they think they’re right?
Spark Conversation
In the 1930s, amidst another time of flux (the Great Depression), the U.S. sociologist Robert Merton drew a map of the different relationships he saw people forming vis à vis "mainstream" goals and means (i.e., what people are supposed to strive for and how people are supposed to strive for them). He called it his “Deviance Typology.”
People who accept society’s goals but not the means Innovate. People who reject the goals but accept the means Go Through The Motions. People who accept both Conform. People who accept neither Retreat. Among those who retreat, some Rebel.
It's a useful framework today, when many of the means and goals of society are once again being questioned, from many angles. Does this framework help you recognize some of the choices facing you? Facing your group? Facing your society? Facing other people?
What's your perspective? Share your stories with us:
Rare Perspectives
Connect with people and ideas that can help you understand your own filters better:
- Read Julie Beck’s brilliant article in The Atlantic on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs.
- Watch Gillian Tett describe her Anthro-Vision with Oxford Business School dean Peter Tufano.
- Shake your head as you go back to 2010 and read Dan Kahan’s two-page warning in the magazine Nature. He begins, “There is a culture war in America over science…”
Explorers' Gym
Lessons Learned from Doing Neue Thinking Together
Dare to Define "Diversity"
Diversity is a big word. It's an emotionally and politically charged word. Whenever you convene diverse perspectives, the key question to ask yourself is: Which diversity is relevant to my quest? Then be guided by your thoughts about that.
You can pack a room or a team full of visibly diverse ages and races who are all from privileged backgrounds. You can pack a room full of White people who range from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich.
Which room is more diverse? Ask different people and you will get a different answer, depending on the lens they bring to such debates.
Premium Content
Watch the 5-minute summary from Chris' most recent explorations in The Many Rooms Where it Happens.
Join the conversation at the NeueGeo Discord Channel.
The Journey Continues...
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets
The holiday season offers an annual opportunity to reflect on the very biggest questions we can find. But first we need to find them. In the next Edition of Brave New Ways, we'll explore why the most popular grand histories of our time (Guns, Germs, and Steel; Sapiens) are also wrong — and look with fresh eyes at what's possible in 2022.
🙏 Thanks for bringing your energy here. - Chris and your Neue Geo team
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