The mind is astoundingly powerful and efficient. With 12 watts of power -- less than a light bulb -- your brain extracts meaning from the world in ways our most powerful computers cannot. But the mind also works in ways that make it exquisitely vulnerable to self deception and manipulation by others.
We have only a few tools against this manipulation, but they are splendid: science, mathematics, and rational debate. These are the tools of the enlightenment, and they are the tools that have allowed us to feed billions, raise the global standard of living, introduce a measure of dignity and justice to our political systems, and to see that we have much more work to do.
What are the anti-tools in this struggle for understanding? What should we be fighting against if we seek truth? The top three on my list are unquestioning belief, fear and anger, and mental viruses.
The importance of questioning probably needs little explanation. If we do not question our thinking, falsehoods that have slipped by our defenses will persist. Just as importantly, as conditions change, we may not recognize when a behavior that was acceptable or maybe even optimal in one situation becomes a liability in another.
Fear and anger are among the most potent toxins to inquiry and change. Modern software development makes "psychological safety" a pillar of the productive workforce. To build new and creative solutions, we strive to foster an environment where all participants offer ideas freely. This allows us to work with the broadest possible starting set of solutions and to benefit from the surprising ways that ideas interact with one another to create even more solutions. We should do the same in our politics.
What are mental viruses? At the end "The Selfish Gene", Richard Dawkins explored the concept of a meme - a replicating bit of information that travels though its ecosystem of thinkers (that is, us) making copies of itself. Like genes, its survival is not directly linked to our survival as individuals, and may even be detrimental to the survival of the individual or the group.
In this conversation I prefer the image of a virus - a packet of mimetic material wrapped in maybe a lipid layer that allows it to slip past our body's defenses and take hold. I prefer that image because it seems to me that is an apt description of many internet memes. These ideas float around, pithy statements surrounded by a protective layer of humor, or fear, or righteous indignation. And once they get in us, they can take over our thought processes in ways we have little defense against.
I think it is a problem when memes replace hard conversation. They allow too much to slip by unquestioned. They do not have sufficient respect for the hard work required to truly understand a complex world. And I have contributed. Just yesterday in fact.
From today on, I pledge to practice good mental hygiene so I am not a spreader of disease. After exposure to a mental virus, I will wash my mind for a good 20 seconds before I risk passing infection on to others. And I will strive to practice the kindness and courtesy that are essential to the kinds of conversation that changes minds instead of hardening them.
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