What did i stay to talk about? I do not recall, Who did we talk about - other people’s business and women. Why? I do not know. On some level, it is the best way we can relate, there is a shallow relation function with us. On the other hand, those moments where you talk about nothing deepens that function. The reason for this is time, time spent might be a more important variable than substance of the conversation.
Nonetheless, Why is all of this important? (tldr; decision-making and self-image) I think I thought alot about this specific instance, because of what it says about my decision-making. Though a microcosm, that moment revealed that I still subconsciously make decisions anti to my self-image (SI). Who cares? Every decision I make reinforces this self-image. The decisions should be analysed so the delta from who you think you are vs how you acted in that moment is constantly reducing. Fundamentally, the SI can be altered.
How does this generally relate to community? There are countless studies that talk about how community affects who you become. To set the stage, 1. each community has an identity and that identity converges to a self-image or group of beliefs core to this community. This is the community’s overton window so to speak. 2. A lot of community decisions are filtered through the lens of the overton window and if it passes, it is taken as consensus (i wanted to quantify the number of decisions that might fall into the category, alas i don’t want to get distracted lol) 3. Consensus decision still reinforce the self-image of individuals within the community 4. A significant amount of people, don’t opt against consensus i.e. a lot of us are/seem to be fine, with decisions being made for us (in a group setting).
a) This might be due to feelings of shame from standing out in a crowd.
b) we don’t realise the decisions are being made
c) we don’t want to be contentious and prefer to not rock the boat
d) we agree with the consensus decision and see no problem.
To clarify, this is not me saying there is anything wrong with group decision, I am simply trying to break down my mental axioms for why i acquiesce to decisions made in group settings even though they might be against the image i am (working towards). I care about this, because I am trying to understand more what conviction looks like
I want to write more on community and knowledge graphs later. Note to self
How does this relate to environment? I’ll use the common maxim, You are a product of our environment. Community are the living things we interact with; people. Environment are the living and non-living things
Our environment = SI * Community * Surrounding Factors (type of food, type of content you consume, any diseases or health advantages you were born with). For this i will focus on the conversations as the pre-cursor for decision we make and people we interact with.
What does this mean when you are trying to accomplish great things? Why is that so important? Because conversations are streams of thought. They are streams of belief, streams of conviction. And in being those streams, they alter the speaker (to either change their belief or double down on it) and they alter the receiver of the thought, i.e. they alter the self-image.
There are 2 very important influences on the outcomes or your usefulness to the world
Your outputs - I would summarise this by the ability to endure the pain and the randomness of tinkering. This is the SI, most people have in mind when they think about themselves.
Your community - This is often the underspoken vector, when people are talking about their outcomes. Did they grow up in communities where x happened? Or have access to y. What impact did reading have on their long term focus?
Tangent; community and disagreement
this also why - Jensen and other founders, often say that not backing down (conflict) is the best way to the best outcomes. I backed down today because of a singular comment. I chose the path of least resistance. Conflict/disagreements stress test your convictions, they are the unwanted but necessary part of a deep understanding in any area.
It can show up as failing your problem sets for university coursework. Or having your product fail when in the market. Conversational conflict is feedback loop we all need. I’m toying with the importance of conflict more, without conflict, there’s not as much growth.
PS; not complete - just not trying to perfect every thought. Hence publishing rough draft 2.0 (excuse the errors). Really open to feedback if you relate or not.