You’ve probably gone somewhere over a long weekend, or even for an entire week or maybe even two. But how about longer than that? What is the longest trip you’ve taken? Both length and distance?
Share why if you wish.
What Is The Best Way To Deal With Disagreement?
When two people or two groups of people disagree with one another, how should they handle that disagreement?
Disagreement is inevitable, both on an individual and a collective level. Everyone has different opinions, and those differences will necessarily lead to disagreements.
However, how you choose to deal with these differences can vary quite drastically. And it can speak to your personality or your organization’s values.
For instance, one approach is compromise. We disagree, but I give up some of what I want, and you give up some of what you want. We find a path forward that we can both live with.
The difficulty with this approach is that everybody might end up unhappy in some aspect. If both sides are sacrificing something they feel is important, it might be hard to feel positive about an agreement.
That leads to a second possibility, which is to be unyielding. You might refuse to give up anything, and hope to wear down the other side. This strategy can be effective in accomplishing exactly what you set out to do, but it carries a risk of alienating the side that disagrees with you. It can also lead to a stalemate if all sides refuse to give in.
A third possibility is to do nothing. In the short term, this is the easiest option. Simply don’t deal with the disagreement. It requires no effort, and you can focus on other things. But avoidance means no forward progress, which can, in some cases, be a big problem.
There are other options as well. Do you think that any one strategy is the best philosophy to follow? Or should you take it on a case-by-case basis, adapting your behavior to the particulars of any given situation?
Related questions: Do you help a friend even if you disagree with them? Hold firm or compromise? What is necessary to change your mind? How can we encourage debate?
Legislative, Executive, Or Judicial?
The U.S. government is designed with three branches, each with it’s own role to play: the legislative, executive, and judicial. Do you like one more than the others?
Share why if you wish.
Do You Know Who You Are Voting For?
When you step into the voting booth, do you know who you will cast your ballot for? In advance, do you watch debates, research questions, and talk to friends about the issues? Or do you decide then and there?
Share why if you wish.
What Are The Consequences Of Outsourcing Our Thinking?
Educators are sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence use by students is leading to degraded thinking skills. What are the consequences of outsourcing our thinking in this way?
While A.I. is the latest and most extreme example of this, humans have been using various tools to lighten their cognitive load for hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of years.
Prior to the advent of cheap and easy printing of books, the primary way to share stories was to recite them from memory. But our ability to memorize long passages of text has decreased substantially in our modern world.
Similarly, light, portable, accurate calculators made obsolete the slide rule, which replaced the abacus. The current generation of math students don’t have the same opportunity to develop mental skills for manipulation of numbers that previous generations did.
Does anyone still use maps? The omnipresence of GPS in cars and smartphones has led to a sharp decrease in our ability to read maps, and simplified the mental model we have in our heads of roads and neighborhoods.
The list goes on. Spell-checkers have produced a generation of substandard spellers. Smart phones keep track of telephone numbers we need, so don’t memorize them. Sparknotes negates the need to do your own reading analysis. And so on.
These tools all have upside. They can increase speed, accuracy, and introduce opportunity for people lacking various skills. However, they do have a downside: as we reduce our cognitive load, we also reduce our cognitive skills.
Will we pay a price, as a society, for outsourcing our thinking? Will there come a day when reading, writing, and mathematics abilities are degraded to a dangerous extent? Or will A.I. and other tools open new pathways for humanity to follow?
Related questions: What skills have you lost due to technology? How do you learn? How can we be more productive? What is legitimate use of artificial intelligence?