Celebrating our differences - Thoughts on echo chambers

in #philosophy6 years ago (edited)

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   Today began very early, actually extremely early... well, to be completely honest, yesterday never actually ended (I should probably go to sleep). In one of those spur of the moment type scenarios, one of the best Pirate Radio renditions was recorded and broadcast to the world. Our radio guru @r0nd0n aka Juan took over the mic and a 4 hour long conversation between @isaria @r0nd0n @scaredycatguide @swelker101 @aggroed and myself took place.

And we disagreed on Air!!!

   And it was fantastic, it was productive and I'm sure I speak for everyone who partook of the conversation, it was educational. I think that in today's social interactions we need more healthy disagreements. Honestly, the semi anonymity that sitting behind a keyboard gives us users, has also had the side effect of damping the consequences of not being a civil grownup when engaging in discourse.

   I'm not trying to be a hypocrite here. It's not like I've never done my share of trolling online, as a matter of fact I was messing with Alex Jones just hours ago. But there is a dire need to also debate the issues, brainstorm ideas, butt heads if you will, with the goal of achieving a balanced consensus.

Can we still be friends?

   There is this idea, this toxic notion, that if someone does not agree with everything I believe in, in the way that I see correct, then that person cannot, and should not ever be called my friend. If the negativity of even reading that sentence is not obvious enough, there are many more dire consequences of living inside your echo chamber.

   It's also pretty apparent to me, that most of the time "disagreements" are really ideas poorly communicated. Meaning, we might have the same goal in mind, just a different notion of how we get there. And if we attempt to step back, see the bigger picture, the commonalities and intentions become apparent.

   What I'm trying to say is that, I don't want to be friends only with people that agree with me. I see value in our differences, and I'm completely aware that I can be wrong about something, and it's completely OK to revise my own convictions.

What about safe spaces?

   I think this is where it gets confusing to some. Many people have this idea that a "safe space" is an environment with people that agree with all your beliefs. This concept, seems pretty distorted to me, and it comes at a heavy cost. Living inside echo chambers only weakens our ability to improve, and I can't think of something worse that can happen to a brain.

   It's not a new thing, echo chambers have been around probably since the dawn of civilization, but maybe the accessibility of information today has amplified or at least facilitated their growth. Life becomes a search for opinions that agree with my preconceived notions of the world, and not a search for facts and truth.

Differences on Steem's Blockchain

   If Steem is to thrive, it needs a healthy dose of all ideas. We can't simply become an echo chamber for one particular ideology, as much as it might sound frightening or painful to imagine on-boarding people you completely disagree with.

   I guess if I had to sum it up, I would probably cheat and use an expression that has existed since before I was even an idea in my parents minds.


"Rome was not built in a day"

   And I would add to that the speculation that those governors, engineers and workers, disagreed, fought and argued sometimes violently on every detail.... and maybe that's why it became as powerful as it did.

Food for thought as they say...

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That was such a fun pirate radio show! I love discussing important and controversial topics and I agree that you can absolutely be friends with someone whom you may disagree with. 😊

we should do it again soon! :)

We should!

I cant say I tuned in for it last night, but that's a lovely experience to have, and I'm glad you found it educational. As long as people are willing to work through their problems, I'm very much of the opinion that having a team built up of very different people can outperform a team of like-minded people. We all bring with us different experiences, views, tastes, opinions and considerations. Shaping a product or community to only fit one type of mindset takes away from all the positives that can be found in the other point of view. As much as we act like the world is black and white, it's actually just many shades of gray.

Me and my research partner, @jaegar, were discussing this two nights ago actually. We were talking about how we will often times debate a topic into the ground when we run into disagreements, however we both agreed that the agreed-upon idea we both like in the end always ends up being better than either idea we came into the debate with. He's a smart guy, so when he does not like something I pitch, I know it means that I must have missed something, and likewise with me to him.

It's okay to be told no, as long as the other side can explain their point of view. We're all human, and even when we're absolutely certain of something, there is always a point of view that can be examined which offers new informations, or there is always a new approach that is worth considering.

I'm glad to hear you had such a productive talk, and thank you for sharing your views on echo chambers. We definitely need to try to avoid echo chambers, or at the very least, look outside the echo chamber for reality checks more frequently in our society.

It's okay to be told no, as long as the other side can explain their point of view.

I'm going to steal that phrase from you.... ;)

thanks for chiming in... and thank you for reading...

It is easy to disagree but harder to understand the reasons behind our opinions.And with time we change, our opinions can change also. To exclude someone whose beliefs don't match ours is to reject a potential friend because of a thought, an idea that can change, an idea that has nothing to do with who the person really is. I have many friends whose beliefs I oppose, when you think about it, everyone can potentially contain an idea that can be disagreed upon by others. You are right to say that the essence of conflict lies in communication, nothing is worse than someone who tries to force ideas onto others or someone who disagrees and then simply refuses to listen altogether. Great post @meno, these are subjects worth discussing if there is to be a united steemit ecosystem.

as always Philo, love your attitude :)

Beautifully stated, my friend. Wise words of such sort should be prized for all of eternity!

@meno great message! :D Wishing you the best.

Glad to hear you guys are making history. History being about conflict per definition (opposites working it out and literally making a difference, which is the distance we call time, i.e. that space inbetween two I's). Coming together is an act of love which narrows the gap and lets every my-story link up into a collaborative.

Bro, even if you don't buy the dip, I'll still be your friend.

I heard you dumped your ADA, and we still buds... so you know Its real bro...

You've been reading the fake news again bro, It's ok i'll still be your friend.

Very nic post

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