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~We’re All Delighted … Dumbing Us Down By The Numbers!
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Monday, July 09, 2007NOW I GET IT ... FINALLY!!! It always made sense to me ... doing things the way I do (hey, I’m just like everyone else in this regard, whatever I do ... however I do it ... always makes perfect sense to me when I doing it ... usually). I’ve actually had debates bordering on full-on arguments with folks I respect ... some who are actually peers and colleagues of mine ... about the topic of dumbing things down ... and dumbing things NOT!
Good Afternoon,
This will be my second blog posting of the day ... very unusual for me! My first was posted earlier on *Zaadz at Joseph's Blog about the Business As A Social Calling ... Part 1. As I've commented here, my blog on *Zaadz and my pod on Social Influence (basically a discussion forum anywhere else but on *Zaadz) are organized around the idea of community and social impact. I will continue posting here at BlogNostra about the general topics of human performance and decision-making (especially the high-level kind of decision-making).
What you would be likely to notice that remains most common in both blogs would be my allegiance to the idea of:
"Creating Futures That Work!"
In this regard I've come to a substantial personal realization ... I've always found myself resisting writing or speaking about the 3-5-7 ... Easy Steps-Characteristics-Traits ... Of Success-Leadership-Happiness ... ... I'm guessing you get the point.
Also, I've always equally found myself resisting the prescriptive use of examples for the sake of making a challenging topic seem accessible and simpler than I actually think it to be. This same thinking would apply I guess to another thing I am sometimes accused of doing, i.e.: using uncommon and/or difficult language in my writing and presentations.
I have a confession:
I've often referred to the books, programs, etc. that start with The 3-5-7 Steps ... or ones that depend on example after example to make their point as books, programs, etc. for stupid people in pent up frustration at both the practice of doing this and their damn popularity.
FWIW I don't think my opinion on this will change too much very soon ...
My realization: Using these techniques to sell a book ... or make a program more appealing ... of for any reason whatsoever ... doesn't actually help us to get the material in a way that builds our ability to think or own the material for ourselves ... in fact it dumbs us down!
We have a predilection for wanting to know ... for certainty. Yet, every time we pursue THE ANSWER/S ... we get a little bit dumber ... we become a little less able to remember the QUESTION/S. Our education has become about gathering a collection of facts, finding the commonalities, building mathematical certainties ... avoiding uncertainty at virtually all costs ... ideally finding the 3-5-7 Simple/Easy Steps To Whatever ...
What I realized ... what my personal revelation was all about was that while the path I've pursued hasn't given me very many certainties along the way ... and I've definitely not found any simple or easy steps to anything ...
I seldom if ever find that the examples that are unique and specific to one thing apply to another thing equally ... seldom if ever have I found that ... WE LIVE IN A WORLD COMPRISED OF THINGS THAT ARE "JUST LIKE" ANYTHING ELSE ... SIMPLY, WE DO NOT!
The idea that one thing and another are just alike usually sends me into a rage when I'm presenting to a group. The intellectual laziness that wants to hang every new idea on a tree of familiar ideas drives me absolutely crazy!
Yet I finally get it ... we are trained almost from birth to be dumbed down:
We have been trained to accept that there are experts with every answer, and that our own non-expert thinking will never equal the thinking of those experts out there.
So we look for easy, simple step ... examples ... anything that will serve us since we've given up our birthright to thinking for ourselves.
I'm guessing I'm not making any friends with this particular posting ... but I find it easier to tell it like I see it ... keeping the BU---IT! down to a minimum. Hey, you may not agree ... but I bet I have at least some of you thinking!!! `'~>
Best regards,
Joseph Riggio, Social Ontologist
Princeton, NJ,
Announcement …
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Monday, July 02, 2007I’m moving my ideas around ...
Check out my blog and pod on *zaadz:
Social Influence - Creating Futures That Work
http://pods.zaadz.com/social_influenceJoseph’s Blog
http://jsriggio.zaadz.com/blogSee you here and there .... all around the world and back to the beginning again ...
Folks,
I’m developing an online presence at *zaadz (http://www.zaadz.com) ... an online community with a stated intention of:
“To change the world by inspiring and empowering people to live at their highest potential ...”
They are also quite commited to the idea of Conscious Capitalism, something I’ve been preaching and livin’ for quite a while myself ... personallyI think we fail completely if we fail at this ...
And as anyone who has been tracking my movement knows about me I’m seeking a way to COMMUNITY and have been for years (read my first blog entry at *zaadz ... Going WIth The Flow ....
SImply, I think that community as we know it ... i.e.: local, temporal ... geographically and/or demongraphically organized ... had died in the world many, or maybe most, of us play in for much of our time. We have become global players ... and we need and desire a means to create an effective global community of players we can connect with and remain connected to.
I don’t mean a virtual community, e.g.: Second Life - an imaginary world to inhabit behind the mask or an avatar so we can remove ourselves from the world ... cowering behind a computer screen and keyboard, I mean a real community comprised of real, live human beings who are interested in connecting in real and meaning-filled ways. I also believe the portal to this real, live community may be the connections we are learning to make via our on-line experiences ... that in turn transcend the virtual world they suggest to some.
Again, I’m not talking about the Matrix ... I’m talking about being Neo ... the new warriors for the people and of the people ... and the planet ... your ever lovin’ REAL LIFE! not your second life (most folks know I don’t believe in reincarnation anyway).
So I’m not abandoning this blog ... I still have a thing that’s hot and heavy for BlogNostra ... my first blog romance you could say ... part muse, part medium. What I’ll be doing will be keeping separate what I think of as separate ... my posts to and on zaadz will be about Social Influence and “Creating Futures That Work”. My posts here will focus on human performance, including high-level decision-making ... and my rants about this and that ... mostly focused on application and conscious capitalism ... and capitalists (entrepreneurs and professionals if you’d prefer that title).
BTW this site will be undergoing a major overhaul in the next few weeks (I hope ... keep your fingers crossed for me). This intention will be paring it down to the essentials, making it easier to navigate, more useful to you, and much more focused ... I think you’re gonna love what we’re planting ... harvest times’ a comin’ ...
Thanks all!!!
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D., Social Ontologist
Princeton, NJ
