Author Topic: Abstraction & Generalization Culture  (Read 856 times)

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Abstraction & Generalization Culture
« Reply #15 on: October 07, 2021, 02:47:06 pm »
1. I think humans have a natural and sometimes necessary need to over-simplify the world, because it's very complex.   Humans have difficulty processing this complexity, because it's hard and inconvenient and sometimes they may not even realize the nuance.  Humans want to make conclusions about things, but nuance is hard. 

2. So we need to avoid oversimplifying.  Some people bash the rich, but not all rich are greedy or bad, even if a lot may be.  It's not good to over-simplify groups with inaccurate stereotypes. Humans also have egos, they want to have opinions and make conclusions even when they don't have enough information on a subject to do so properly.

3. So lets be humble and realize our ignorance where it may exist.  If you don't know a lot about a subject your opinions about it are probably inaccurate and you're just talking out of your rump.  I've had relatives who have made racist stereotypes about racial groups but they have never been friends with one, or worked closely with one.  It is really about laziness and/or ignorance.  Let's do our homework before having opinions.

1. Humans seem to actually construct the artifacts of their community along basic lines: OUR tribe, the outsiders, our challenges, the "good" traits, the "bad" traits...

2. Or maybe come up with more clever ways to do so.  Money, and Laws are oversimplifications via system that work.

3. Great advice.  Maybe that's a stereotype we need to promote "the person who talks out their ass".  Maybe expertise needs to be re-established as a valued attribute.