The Power of Onlyness by Nilofer Merchant

Author:Nilofer Merchant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

ERODED TRUST

The question of whom to trust is not as easy to answer as it once was. Trust in many of our established institutions—churches, businesses, governments, the military—has decreased. According to Pew, trust in government in the United States is at a near fifty-year low.7

Have conditions really changed so dramatically, or have we all just grown more cynical?

It’s likely that both are true. As we collectively lose trust in all forms of authority, we begin to doubt every source of “official” news. It’s understandable that people have turned to Internet chat rooms, which are often home to conspiracy theories of various sorts, to learn “the truth.” This has become a problem for all of us, and unless we learn how to filter out the truth from convenient fallacies, we risk losing out on all the benefits that groups provide through the platform they provide for cooperation.

How do we make responsible decisions about where to place our trust where ideas are concerned? Here are some suggestions.

If the question is fundamentally subjective—for example, “Does Uncle Clay make better berry pies than Aunt Margaret?”—then your opinion typically counts as much as the next person’s, even if that person is a doctor with more degrees than you. Your vote matters in this situation because the issue at hand is a matter of preferences. You’re likely to face this sort of decision every day, such as when you have to choose which coffeemaker to buy. Your selection will depend on how you plan to use the device. You might prefer using preground beans, which will limit the number of options you’ll have. But if you’re a coffee connoisseur, preferring to consider factors like the temperature of the water for brewing, the exact provenance of beans used, and which grind is appropriate, you’ll have a different set of priorities.

If the topic is dogmatic in nature—as in, “Is there a heaven or a hell?” or even “Is there a God?”—the question is not one dependent on expertise or facts. There is no “right” answer other than the one each of us discovers for him- or herself. That’s not to say other people don’t matter in this search—they do. Our friends can give us moral support and help us talk through our ideas. But at our most vulnerable moments, we can also be falsely directed. Online militant groups have recruited young people who feel lost in life and encouraged them to engage in destructive actions as a way to make their lives matter.8 When we listen to someone else for advice about what can give our lives meaning, we are literally handing them authority to define who we are and what we become.

If it is a question about the future—“When will cars drive themselves?” or “What’s the market opportunity for our product in the next ten years in Eritrea?”—then you’ll want to draw on the expertise of others and to combine and interpret different data, insights, perspectives, and observations to make an educated prediction. Someone who has lived

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