Vector
Technology is a medium. It's a vector through which ideas can spread.
For the last few hundred years, this has been the role of technology. Self-interest has driven its uprise, supported by people driven to share something with others. First it was books, then the telegraph, then the radio, television, and then the Internet.
This has led to a great democratization of information. The same information is available to almost everyone, on a scale that's unprecedented in the history of the world.
And yet, we're not all the same. We believe different things. We're all infected with different things.
For a few years, I thought conformity was a prevalent problem in the American culture. I embraced this idea largely because it was a trendy thing to do at the time. But for the last decade or so, I've never thought that conformity was a problem. People, even those who share a lot of the same qualities, are still radically different from one another.
The difference is not in the information we receive, but in our world view. This is the filter that determines what information sticks to our brains and what falls through the cracks. Asking people to change their minds about certain things, just through the use of facts, is more often than not an exercise in futility, because people decide based on emotion, then seek out facts to support the decision.
And yet, there are many things that seemed futile at the beginning but proved worthwhile in hindsight. It was "futile" to get people to stop littering, stop drinking and driving, and start sorting their trash into recycling bins. Or to get people paying $4 for a cup of coffee.
Hitler once said that the bigger the lie, the more people would believe it. Maybe the more futile the goal, the better chance you have at succeeding through persistence.
For the last few hundred years, this has been the role of technology. Self-interest has driven its uprise, supported by people driven to share something with others. First it was books, then the telegraph, then the radio, television, and then the Internet.
This has led to a great democratization of information. The same information is available to almost everyone, on a scale that's unprecedented in the history of the world.
And yet, we're not all the same. We believe different things. We're all infected with different things.
For a few years, I thought conformity was a prevalent problem in the American culture. I embraced this idea largely because it was a trendy thing to do at the time. But for the last decade or so, I've never thought that conformity was a problem. People, even those who share a lot of the same qualities, are still radically different from one another.
The difference is not in the information we receive, but in our world view. This is the filter that determines what information sticks to our brains and what falls through the cracks. Asking people to change their minds about certain things, just through the use of facts, is more often than not an exercise in futility, because people decide based on emotion, then seek out facts to support the decision.
And yet, there are many things that seemed futile at the beginning but proved worthwhile in hindsight. It was "futile" to get people to stop littering, stop drinking and driving, and start sorting their trash into recycling bins. Or to get people paying $4 for a cup of coffee.
Hitler once said that the bigger the lie, the more people would believe it. Maybe the more futile the goal, the better chance you have at succeeding through persistence.