You came back with a vengeance lol! And I love it. I think weβre moving into a place where curiosity is taking front and center again. It may not be mainstream but slowly I see people opening up. You brought up so many good points that Iβll have to revisit this essay again because itβs full of a lot of good information. My favorite part was about skepticism leading you to look deeper at things. Thatβs literally my mindset and if I find something really good that changes my mind Iβm okay with that. I have my convictions but I know the smartest person is the room is the one who is able to admit they donβt know. I donβt try to be an expert. Like you said Iβm going to someone who knows the thing because itβs almost like theyβre a specialist in it.
And my favorite conversations have been with people who have life experience not high school diplomas or college degrees. This why I love talking to the elderly because theyβre like a freaking history book and then theyβve actually lived through it as well. I also appreciate talking to people from marginalized communities like my own because we always have so much culture to share. I always say youβll hear the best stories from an uber driver or sex-worker. Theyβve seen it all!
dez!! god, i miss you. "with a vengeance" is accurate honestly, hahaha. :) i had a lot stored up and it all came out at once. probably too many words but here we are. i feel like i have been word vomiting these past few weeks.
and yes, exactly. the smartest person in the room is the one who can say "i don't know" and mean it. that's the whole game. you get it because you've always gotten it. your whole approach to learning has always been that open-handed curiosity that doesn't need to prove anything, just wants to understand. it's one of my favorite things about you.
also "you'll hear the best stories from an uber driver or sex worker" is going directly into my mental vault. that's a refrΓ‘n in the making. because it's TRUE!!! people who navigate the margins of systems see those systems more clearly than anyone inside them. the abuela, the elder, the person who's had to hustle and observe to survive. they know things that never make it into textbooks.
okay but enough about my essay. it's so good to hear from you!! how are YOU? what's your class lineup looking like this semester? i want the full rundown. πi am so close to getting my associate's!!! probably this semester and one more and that's it!
facts are important, but they alone don't provide understanding. Context and verification by experts is important, but you have to understand the expert's context. Sites like https://www.newsguardtech.com/ help to put web searches in context. PArt of what is driving this is that the rigor that used to be behind major news sources moved to "commentary", and opinion now matters more than verifiable fact.
hi michael! yes! exactly this. facts are the raw material, but without context they're just floating data points waiting to be weaponized by whoever gets to them first. and you're so right about the shift from rigor to commentary. somewhere along the way, "here's what happened" became less profitable than "here's what you should feel about what happened," and now we're all swimming in a sea of opinions dressed up as analysis.
i didn't know about newsguard, actually. just bookmarked it. thank you for that!
the expert context piece is tricky too, right? because even experts have frameworks and biases and funding sources. not in a "trust no one" conspiracy way, but in a "okay, who is this person and what's their deal" way. it's exhausting but necessary. critical thinking as a survival skill, haha.
i appreciate you reading and engaging, my friend!!!! hope you're doing well out there. π
You came back with a vengeance lol! And I love it. I think weβre moving into a place where curiosity is taking front and center again. It may not be mainstream but slowly I see people opening up. You brought up so many good points that Iβll have to revisit this essay again because itβs full of a lot of good information. My favorite part was about skepticism leading you to look deeper at things. Thatβs literally my mindset and if I find something really good that changes my mind Iβm okay with that. I have my convictions but I know the smartest person is the room is the one who is able to admit they donβt know. I donβt try to be an expert. Like you said Iβm going to someone who knows the thing because itβs almost like theyβre a specialist in it.
And my favorite conversations have been with people who have life experience not high school diplomas or college degrees. This why I love talking to the elderly because theyβre like a freaking history book and then theyβve actually lived through it as well. I also appreciate talking to people from marginalized communities like my own because we always have so much culture to share. I always say youβll hear the best stories from an uber driver or sex-worker. Theyβve seen it all!
dez!! god, i miss you. "with a vengeance" is accurate honestly, hahaha. :) i had a lot stored up and it all came out at once. probably too many words but here we are. i feel like i have been word vomiting these past few weeks.
and yes, exactly. the smartest person in the room is the one who can say "i don't know" and mean it. that's the whole game. you get it because you've always gotten it. your whole approach to learning has always been that open-handed curiosity that doesn't need to prove anything, just wants to understand. it's one of my favorite things about you.
also "you'll hear the best stories from an uber driver or sex worker" is going directly into my mental vault. that's a refrΓ‘n in the making. because it's TRUE!!! people who navigate the margins of systems see those systems more clearly than anyone inside them. the abuela, the elder, the person who's had to hustle and observe to survive. they know things that never make it into textbooks.
okay but enough about my essay. it's so good to hear from you!! how are YOU? what's your class lineup looking like this semester? i want the full rundown. πi am so close to getting my associate's!!! probably this semester and one more and that's it!
facts are important, but they alone don't provide understanding. Context and verification by experts is important, but you have to understand the expert's context. Sites like https://www.newsguardtech.com/ help to put web searches in context. PArt of what is driving this is that the rigor that used to be behind major news sources moved to "commentary", and opinion now matters more than verifiable fact.
Good stuff, Maynard!
hi michael! yes! exactly this. facts are the raw material, but without context they're just floating data points waiting to be weaponized by whoever gets to them first. and you're so right about the shift from rigor to commentary. somewhere along the way, "here's what happened" became less profitable than "here's what you should feel about what happened," and now we're all swimming in a sea of opinions dressed up as analysis.
i didn't know about newsguard, actually. just bookmarked it. thank you for that!
the expert context piece is tricky too, right? because even experts have frameworks and biases and funding sources. not in a "trust no one" conspiracy way, but in a "okay, who is this person and what's their deal" way. it's exhausting but necessary. critical thinking as a survival skill, haha.
i appreciate you reading and engaging, my friend!!!! hope you're doing well out there. π