Instinct for concensus
Thinking about thinking
Hello!
Has anyone ever told you to think for yourself? Turns out it's somewhat impossible. According to Alan Jacobs in his book "How To Think", even if thinking independently of other people were achievable, it would be no fun at all. “Thinking is necessarily, wonderfully, thoroughly social." Tell that to my asshole high school boyfriend, who told me I was a sheep for wanting to go to university.
Jacobs describes people as having a "hypertrophic instinct for consensus": We are hardwired to find common ground and shift into alignment with those around us. (Arguably one of our most exploitable traits, which, most recently, has been capitalized upon by Big Tech to funnel us into echo chambers.)
So, is critical thinking inherently anti-social?
I read this piece recently in which the author described his experience of an OCD conference in San Francisco. Andrew Kay writes about receiving mixed messages from the professionals there: on one hand, the underlined consensus was that OCD was a genetic disorder, and therefore something that you are either born with or not. However, the genes that are said to cause this disorder haven't been identified. Kay was struck by the discordance of a group of scientists heartily agreeing to a narrative (stemming from the Nineties) that didn't have a strong scientific basis.
Why did this so disturb me? Was it the total confidence and memetic regularity with which every expert here asserted the same origin story? Or the strange, deterministic push to essentialize something for which there existed no clear genetic marker—to establish, once and for all, that certain babies come tumbling from the womb already addled with something called obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Andrew Kay
That idea of "memetic regularity" stuck with me. No one and nothing is exempt from the magnetic aura of the agreed-upon. That which is decided is categorized and can be put away: settle it and move on. Perhaps our motivation to reach consensus is one part social, and one part pragmatic: we are forward-looking, progress-oriented people, and loose ends hold us back.
I'm sure we can all identify moments in our lives when voicing critical thought or doubt resulted in discord. Still, I hope we can afford a bit of awkwardness if that's what it takes to poke at something that feels stuck or wrong.
Strong communities and strong relationships aren't built upon unquestioned values. They're generated through the practice of rigorous, compassionate, empathetic curiosity.
This ethos is the undercurrent of my work as an artist: to be visibly in process, or in progress, or unfinished, is to give grace to other people who do the same. At least that’s what I’m banking on!
Would love to hear from you- especially if you disagree with me!
UPCOMING
~ Morning club ~ is happening tomorrow at Ramblers! 8:00-9:30am :) Learn more about it & sign up HERE!
I look forward to playing Folk Harbour festival in Lunenburg in a couple of weeks! I’ll be playing two sets- one on Friday, and one on Sunday.