Humanity’s Survival Depends On Moving Beyond Tribal Thinking.

Summary

The article emphasizes the necessity for humanity to overcome tribal thinking to ensure its survival, particularly in the context of widespread misinformation and cognitive biases perpetuated by social media.

Abstract

The article "Humanity’s Survival Depends On Moving Beyond Tribal Thinking" discusses the prevalence of tribal epistemology in America and its detrimental effects on society. It highlights how groupthink and the fear of challenging one's own beliefs lead to the widespread denial of facts, even in the face of a global pandemic. The author argues that the proliferation of social media has exacerbated this issue by constantly bombarding individuals with misleading or false information, reinforcing cognitive biases. The article suggests that to combat this, individuals must engage in personal philosophical reflection and institutions should promote reasoning and critical thought. The author acknowledges the difficulty in breaking free from tribal thinking but remains hopeful that humanity can evolve beyond its current patterns of thought to ensure its survival.

Opinions

Tribal epistemology is a significant problem in America and likely elsewhere, leading to a rejection of facts and scientific consensus.
Social media has intensified tribal thinking by spreading misinformation and solidifying biases.
The human brain's resistance to feeling wronged contributes to the persistence of tribal beliefs.
Overcoming tribal epistemology will require both individual effort and systemic changes that prioritize reason and critical thinking.
There is hope for change, and it is crucial for humanity's future to move beyond tribal tendencies.
The author advocates for self-reflection and challenging one's own beliefs as a starting point for transformation.

Humanity’s Survival Depends On Moving Beyond Tribal Thinking.

It’s abundantly clear from the last four chaotic years and the recent election that tribal epistemology reigns supreme in America, and most likely much of the world. We quickly dive into our group think bubbles and rarely dare to consider facts, or even far less, understand what is meant by the term “facts.” Even during a terrifying pandemic, a decent size of people still holds it to be all a hoax. One does not get to that level of denialism by oneself, but rather by internal pressurization from within a group.

This epistemic shortsightedness is not particularly new nor surprising. Yet tribal epistemology (TE) seems to be mutating, taking on a different dimension via social media proliferation. It’s a heinous fine-tuning of cognitive biases that get hyper-solidified by a near-constant deluge of misleading and/or blatantly false information. Once caught in the vicious cycle, breaking out remains difficult not because better information does not exist but because the human brain wants to protect against the potential injury of feeling wronged.

This all too common cognitive dissonance partially explains why one is often not persuaded by reason or contrary evidence, the effect further amplified in groups of people. The epistemological ecosystem of the tribe depends on protecting its myths from scrutiny. Yet perhaps now more than ever, we need to shrug off the shackles of TE and, collectively, move beyond our own biases.

Let’s be clear: breaking some of TE's chains will be daunting and require arduous work. I can imagine this means some combination of personal philosophical reflection and institutional reform that places more value on reasoning and critical thought. Getting there will require taking a sobering step back from incessant online information feeds and authentically turning towards genuine conversation and sharing ideas. And that’s just a meager start.

I harbor no delusions about how easy it is to be cynical about the possibility that humans can’t move beyond their own thought-boxes. But there’s still hope. We’re not eternally locked into any pattern of thinking. That’s good news!

One doesn’t need a fully fleshed out philosophical road map of reality to get the ball rolling. Nonetheless, we don’t have much time. As per this title, I strongly believe that humanity’s very survival is contingent on moving past our tribal tendencies and embracing a return to reason and collective human trust.

Start today. Write down a belief or two and inquire about that belief(s). Ask yourself why you think what you think.

Feel the freedom to challenge within.

Get the ball rolling…