I've read a lot of the current debates going on regarding steemit, and I've been very vocal on some of them. I believe at this point I am likely known for that. Yet this post is more in line with what @winstonwolfe is talking about in his recent post. That post actually was the inspiration for this one.

I want to approach this from a broader perspective beyond that of steemit, busy, steem, etc. It is certainly relevant to what is happening here, but I see it as a problem all over the place these days.

Decision Paralysis

In this day and age debates often boil into one group of people saying you can't do that because X will happen. The other group says no it won't, but if we do what you want Y will happen.

X and Y are stated as certainties... This would be a good point to share a Tad Williams quote I really like that I shared a week or more ago.

So many things in life these days are halted by assumptions. In reality X and Y were likely simply things that MIGHT happen. They are generally not absolutes. They are things that are highly probable to happen in the minds of the person against the idea and as is so often the case these days the person turns it into an absolute when challenging it. MIGHT happen suddenly changes to WILL happen. This is a logical fallacy, but it is one that is frequently used. It is very difficult not to use. I even fight this and do so sometimes. I've gotten in the habit of at least saying "Sorry that was an absolute" and then I'll qualify it to HIGHLY PROBABLE, A LOT, SOME, A FEW, etc. That leaves a chance as is the case with probabilities where what I am stating could be wrong. If this were not the case why bother buying lottery tickets when most people will lose?

The real problem here is the fact that these debates over what MIGHT happen can stall the chance for anything happening. It becomes a decision paralysis.

Bravery

Bravery does not mean a person has no fear. That is simply called fearlessness. A brave person generally is afraid of what they have to face. They courageously face their fear and try it anyway. Bravery is becoming a less common thing at a rapid pace in this world so driven by fear.

When there is a chance something bad MIGHT happen and you are at a crossroads where there are opposing ideas each contributing the decision paralysis then that is a time to be brave. Pick one. If you have to draw it from a hat to break the impasse so be it. Try it. Learn from it.

We learn from our failures and our successes. Yet if we do nothing, we learn nothing.

Arrogance

Part of what I think drives this increasing fear is the realization that today people often have a strong aversion to admitting they were wrong. You can see all kinds of versions to this. In reality, the person admitting they cannot be wrong, are rarely wrong, etc is a fool. They simply do not realize it. It is very difficult to learn anything without also learning about and experiencing failure. Only speaking of and acknowledging success is a path of willful ignorance. The person is choosing to wear glasses that only show them the things they are comfortable with.

This is not how reality and learning work.

Yet if you look at our governments. They will often pass a law, or build a program that turns out is a very bad program/bill and is a failure. Yet, getting them to pull that and admit it was a failure is a near impossibility. They will fight tooth and nail to defend their Legacy. You see it didn't have anything to do with whether it was a good idea or not. What is so important to many decision makers is their legacy. We can't tear down the statue they helped erect even if it turns out the statue is causing illness and migraines to many people who look at it. "But it is my legacy". This could be called pride. It could be called arrogance. It could be called egotistical.

Yet one thing is for certain. It has nothing to do with actual reality, correctness, or making the best decision.

I believe over time society has noticed how difficult it is to back out of a failure in government, and most organizations, simply because that is admitting that they were wrong.

I believe this also has contributed to these impasses I am calling decision paralysis. Why? Because those bad things that MIGHT happen are then viewed as being something we are STUCK with forever if they do happen, because the people who proposed that course of action will be more concerned about not admitting failure, and preserving their legacy. This is true of all sides. So this makes it a case where they will not take what they perceive as RISK to TRY things first, and judge the results later.

Where to Go?

We need to get back to being brave. We can try to reason with each other and state what we believe are highly probable outcomes. Yet at some point we need to pick some things to ATTEMPT. We need to observe the results. Learn from our failures and our successes. If it was a total failure then we need to back it up completely and try one of the other paths. It is likely what we learn from doing this will reveal paths that NONE of the people standing at the crossroads in deadlock thought of. They didn't have enough information due to not experiencing the successes and failures. They were letting assumptions about the future dictate their reality. I'm sure people have heard many of the funny little statements about what an ASSUMPTION is or DOES. :) If you need to know a few ask. I'd rather let you chuckle and play with those things in your own mind if you know what I am hinting at.

So what about Steemit?

It is in beta. At this point I'm willing to try pretty much anything people want to try. My only caveat is we learn from the failures and successes, and we not get fixated on our legacy. "That was my idea... did you all hear how I saved steemit?..." These solutions will come from all of us. This is not about erecting a statue to any of us. It is about moving forward.

Sometimes in reality when you are walking forward you will encounter a barrier and have to backtrack to get around that barrier. This is also true with experimenting.

I am fine with trying anything to make steemit better with the understanding that the things that don't work we all agree to stop doing once we've proven they don't work.

WE as a community approach making this place a better place based upon the understanding that collectively we know a lot more than any one of us. We can make this place a shining star. I believe many of us already see the diamond in the rough.

What do you say? Are you willing to take risks, and experiment like I am? If so, we need to let @ned, @dan, @dantheman, etc know. We need not shout down ideas before they have been tested. We can say "that was a bad idea" after we have tried it, but we should really encourage experimentation during this beta stage rather than discourage it.

Steem On!