Diversity of Thought

Have you ever heard the phrase “like minded individuals”? I’m sure you have. It’s become a sort of buzzphrase. Anytime someone wants to join a group, they say they want to meet like minded individuals. Why do you want to go to see the sports team? “I want to meet like minded individuals.” Why do you belong to that Facebook group? “I wanted to get to know like minded individuals.” Who are you looking for on this dating website? “Sexy like minded individuals who like The Office.” When I see this, my brain automatically translates it to “closed minded individuals”.

It’s a way of saying that you prefer to be around people who already think what you think and who already believe what you believe. People tend to not want to interact with those who disagree with them. It makes sense, in a way. We are a tribal species. We survived by relying on those we could trust. When you spend enough time around someone, in the same environment, going through the same experiences, you’ll probably form the same conclusions about the world.

Oddly enough, I think it’s the exact concept that is holding society back. We shouldn’t want to only hear one perspective. We shouldn’t want to constantly have our own biases confirmed. We shouldn’t want to believe that we are always correct. How does that benefit us? I mean, sure, it’s comforting. It’s a nice ego boost when everyone we knows confirms our perception of reality. Humans like to know things. We are a curious bunch. However, when we think we know something, and everyone around us thinks we know things, then we stop being curious.

My argument is that society improves when MORE positions are posited. I want MORE opinions. I want MORE conclusions. Think about genetics. Purebred dogs are often more prone to disease and illness than “mutts”. Do you know why? In a large enough genetic pool, statistically speaking, the gene(s) to combat (insert illness) is/are more likely to be passed on. If you have a breed of dog that never gets new genetic material, they have no way of fighting off whatever illness might come their way. Genetic diversity is the solution. The more genomes floating in the proverbial pool, the healthier the species.

We need to apply the same thing to thought.

I’m not saying that all thoughts and opinions are equally valid. Some ideas are simply stupid. But we need to cultivate an environment where we can hear ideas that make us uncomfortable. We need to examine concepts that we don’t like. We need to see perspectives we hadn’t previously considered. We need to take all these ideas, from all these different perspectives, through all their different experiences, and then decide which is correct, or likely to be correct. We should look forward to admitting “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that”, or “I hadn’t considered that perspective”. It turns out, very few of us know everything. We shouldn’t hide from that; we should embrace it.

Let’s take Star Trek: The Next Generation as an example. When faced with an issue, Captain Picard doesn’t simply make a decision and everyone agrees and goes on with their lives. He asks for options. Worf suggests punching it. Riker recommends seducing it. Crusher offers the actual solution. Data quotes some statistics. Then Picard weighs all the different options and makes a decision. We need to do that in real life.

We can’t do that if no one ever challenges us. If everyone around us agrees with everything we say or do, even if we’re wrong, we end up making bad decisions, having incorrect opinions, and society stalls. Notice how I haven’t mentioned any political parties so far. Yet, I’m guessing you’ve already applied what I’ve said to the “other” side. If you’re a Republican, you’re thinking about how the Democrats need to consider those outside their bubble. If you’re a Democrat, you’re thinking about how the Republicans need to watch something other than Fox news.

That’s the problem. We ALL need to be open to improvement. We ALL need to recognize that just because a lot of people, especially “everyone we know” believe something, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are right. We ALL need to be able to look objectively at multiple positions, opinions, and beliefs. We have to be able to decide which one is most correct based on the evidence, and then be willing to admit if we are wrong. Then, most importantly, we need to adapt to the most correct version.

We need diversity of thought.

While doing research for this article, I came across a piece by Michael Harriott, where they posit that “diversity of thought” is simply a code word for white supremacy. In their article, they gave some examples of conservatives feeling silenced by the woke left, and basically want all ideas heard, even if they are racist. I’m not talking about that. At all. Just because someone has an idea, it doesn’t mean it’s a good one. If someone is racist, we need to call them out on it. The only reason I bring this up, is because Mr. Harriott has had experiences I haven’t. He has a point of view I hadn’t considered. So after I read his article, I reread mine, with a new perspective. Am I actually supporting white supremacy? I hope not. I think this is a case where we are using the same phrase to describe two different concepts. But it did give me the opportunity to reexamine my position, and hopefully, made my article better.

Also, part of me thought it would be funny to pick an image of only white people thinking. I decided against it.

That’s my entire point. The more perspectives we have, the better we as individuals are, and the better society as a whole can be.

I’m worried that we as a country have splintered so far from each other, that this may prove impossible. Here’s the worst case scenario: Qanon. Qanon is what you get when your ideas are isolated and constantly reinforced by “like minded individuals”. In their world, these conspiracy theories are never challenged. They are regarded as “obvious facts” by their followers. It’s absolutely a cult, but from their perspective, everyone around them, everyone on their internet forums, everyone on the media they watch agrees with them. As far as they can tell, they are right. Alt right, if you will. Don’t get me wrong. Liberals can be isolated intellectually as well, but Qanon is just a better example. An example of what can happen when we lack diversity of thought.

We learn from our experiences. We make decisions based on past outcomes. Sometimes – most of the time – we are forced to address situations we haven’t previously encountered. It’s not in our best interests to continue to make the same mistakes over and over because our thoughts have stagnated. What if we had people around us who HAD encountered those situations, and were willing to share what they learned from the experience? Suddenly, we can make an educated decision without the pain of failure. That’s what I want. I want us as a society to band together. I want people from all walks of life, all melanin levels, all hormone types, all backgrounds, to come together, share what they’ve learned on their journey, so that everyone can benefit from it. So we can all grow. So we can all become better versions of ourselves, and a better version of society.