(Posted April 23, 2018)
In “Zen Guitar” by Philip Toshio Sudo, the budding guitar enthusiast is asked… why play guitar? After a laundry list of varying reasons to pick up the guitar, Sudo concludes with the overlooked and simplest of responses… you play guitar to make a sound.
I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit to a significant amount of self-indulgence motivating my desire to blog. We all want our ideas and values affirmed in the public sphere. However, just like the guitar, ultimately I just want to make a sound, for myself and for anyone who chooses to read. Publishing one’s thoughts and ideas in any public forum exposes them to being challenged or refuted. Therefore, a blog involves some personal risk, if even nominal. Aside from the potential risks of having my ideas challenged, which is not necessarily a bad thing, another potential pitfall of blogging is contributing to the echo chamber of social media.
We’ve all heard of the dangers of the echo chamber… a lack of diverse ideas, reinforcing dubious narratives, a ‘groupthink’ mentality that overlooks evidence-based ideas. While these are certainly negative attributes of an echo chamber culture, I would argue that we all are drawn to live in our own echo chambers, as an inevitable fact of our evolutionary past. A shared ideology and value system greatly enhanced survival in an otherwise inhospitable and dangerous world. I would also argue that our echo chambers have evolved, like us. The echo chambers of 10,000 years ago are different than the echo chambers of 1,000 years ago, different from the echo chambers of 200 years ago, different from the echo chambers of just 60 years ago.
The world has become smaller, more interconnected. Cultures have collided, assimilated, and adapted. Tribes have merged and become more complex… and the echo chambers are no longer isolated and immune from outside influences.
Since we’re wired to accept shared ideologies, as a matter of survival, the challenge isn’t in eradicating our innate desire to live in some sort of echo chamber, the challenge is in expanding our shared ideologies to encompass the widest tribe possible… the tribe of humanity. While diverse ideas and values are desirable, all ideas and values do not share equal footing by default. Just as our earliest ancestors tested their ideas and values based on their impact on survival, so too must our shared ideas and values prove their worth in sustaining a more peaceful and compassionate world.
At best, I hope my blogs will be thoughtful and force me to carefully examine my ideas and values as I craft each post. I make no promises, as this is unknown territory for me. At worst, I’ll make some noise and craft some narratives to satisfy my own indulgences, shared or otherwise.