Hej! Welcome to this week's digest. This is a very special week... I got my first unsubscribe! So exciting. If I don't turn a few people off, I am probably not being authentic enough, so this was great news. This week's topics include not reading the news (delete this now ;D), democide, civil discourse on Reddit, and Chinese sci-fi. Enjoy!
(Note: I had a reader request this week for a table of contents upfront because the digest is too long for them. Totally get it, let's try this out! What do you think?)
"And we walk together down the street, so that we can remember every passing blade of grass, every dewdrop, every fading ray of the dying sun, infinitely beautiful." ~ Ken Liu
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (AKA I have a lot to learn from you)
Multiple, replying to Killing My Confirmation Bias re: Paleo (High Fat + Very Low Carb) Diet: THANK YOU to everyone who shared their resources and perspectives this week. Your info put a big, fat-fueled smile on my face :D I am not worthy. That said, ALL of the information came from the PRO side, i.e., no one tried to burst my bubble. A few potential drivers: (1) I am so deep in the bubble that I have no readers who think differently. (2) I was not sufficiently vulnerable in my ask to have those who think differently offer their opinions. (3) The data actually supports my beliefs. Anyway, guess I'll rename this section "Reinforce my confirmation bias". Some of my favorite responses from you:
BLOG POST - Why You Should Stop Reading News - Quitting my daily news (and sports news) habit has improved my life. A great example of societal norms =/= personal happiness. If you need convincing, Shane's post illustrates the argument quite well. (Note: I am often still afraid of silence ><). Experiment for yourself!
My highlights:
News producers perpetuate a culture of “tune in, don't miss out, follow this or you'll be misinformed, oh wait, look at this!” As you consume more and more of that kind of news, you have less and less time for what matters.
The point is, most of what you read online today is pointless. It's not important to your life. It's not going to help you make better decisions.
Your first thought on something is usually not yours but someone else's. When all you do is consume, you are not only letting someone else hijack and direct your attention; you are also letting them think for you.
We're afraid of silence, afraid to be alone with our thoughts. That's why we pull out our phones when we're waiting in line at a coffee shop or the grocery store. We're afraid to ask ourselves deep and meaningful questions. We're afraid to be bored. We're so afraid that to avoid it, we'll literally drive ourselves crazy consuming pointless information.
PODCAST - The Ezra Klein Show: How Democracies Die - I have a layer of anxiety that ebbs and flows in my life related to U.S. politics. In particular, it feels like the foundational values of this government are eroding, due to (sadly, rational) dynamics that exist on both sides of the aisle. This podcast did a great job of delineating some of the macro drivers, including: (1) There is less diversity within both parties - If you know a rep's position on one issue, you can probably guess their positions on *all* issues (i.e., stronger correlations between ideology and partisanship). (2) Reduced forebearance (This term was new to me) - When you choose to not exercise powers that are technically legal for the sake of the system (e.g., gerrymandering, voter ID laws, filibuster). I will add one additional thought (I believe credit goes to Sam Harris for this one) - Citizens in a democracy do not know when it is the last time they get to vote.
ARTICLE - Our Best Hope for Civil Discourse Online Is on ... Reddit - Reddit's Change My View (CMV) forum came up multiple times this week when talking with friends about the Killing My Confirmation Bias experiment. I am entirely too excited that there is a public forum for reasonable discourse (learn more from Daniel Dennett / Anatol Rapoport). In general, I think that we *all* are walking around with some outdated mental models, it is just incredibly difficult to become aware and to update our beliefs.
My highlights:
Sometimes an opinion seems like a burden you long to lay down.
"A view is just how you see something, it doesn’t have to define you, and trying to detach from it to gain understanding can be a very good thing.”
Change My View is the first place he has discovered where you can demonstrate a willingness to change course without being perceived as weak.
"Being shown that I was wrong means that I get to remove a little pocket of ignorance I had and gain a more complete understanding of the world.”
I couldn’t tell anything about anyone’s political allegiances, gender, or cultural positioning; usually a conversation about sex, gender, and penises brings out the most entrenched ideologues. But here we were discussing logistical, practical, and ethical questions.
Yes, my opinions generally sound plausible. As a rule, I substantiate them. But occasionally I suspect with a shudder that I’ve conceived one in partisan bias, scattershot anxiety, or even outright malice. In short, I question my capacity to reason impartially.
Maybe what we share when we submit views for changing is not the view itself as much as those poltergeist doubts that haunt all of us—about our motives, our capacity to reason, our politics, our principles, even our essential goodness.
MOST FAVORITE FROM THE PAST
BOOK - The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - Ken Liu's short stories weave together themes of Chinese tradition and culture with historical, magical, science-fiction, and other environments. Enthralling storytelling combined with ingenious premises results in a memorable read. Ken's work also touches on historical atrocities committed against the Chinese that I had not fully appreciated - his stories opened my eyes to more of Chinese history, beautiful and dark.
