Monday, October 6, 2008

Actual Fresh Perspective

This blog is dedicated to the occassional fresh perspective that I encounter on any topics that have specific relevance for how we live, how we perceive the world, and how we think. I'm especially interested in anything that changes my mind and thereby impacts how I live.

The problem with any actual fresh perspective is how to know if it is worthy of the kind of trust that it would take for it to impact your perceptions and thus your life. If you look to the world for confirmation all you'll find, on average, is what the world agrees on. By definition, what the world agrees on isn't fresh. On the other hand, if you don't find confirmation for a lot of your thinking and perceptions then you feel crazy.

"Asch concluded that it is difficult to maintain that you see something when no one else does. The group pressure implied by the expressed opinion of other people can lead to modification and distortion effectively making you see almost anything." -- Solomon Asch experiment (1958)- A study of conformity See also this [link]

So, ironically, any really fresh perspective that shifts your point of view will punish you by making you feel crazy. Unless you're arrogant.

Any other non-arrogant crazies out there?

1 comment:

  1. It is refreshing to see some novel thinking on the web. I hope you keep the new thoughts coming to challange us to get out of our shells. By the way, fresh thinking is very stimulating. Where were you before the stock market crisis? You could have avoided it for our country!!!
    Your fellow patriot,
    Reflector

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