Today's schedule of meetings was optional for me, so I exercised my option and chose not to attend. Instead, I caught a taxi to a nearby shopping center to find a little gift for Smallsteps and my wife, as well as just to walk around in laps to get in some steps and clear my head. After which, I came back to the hotel and did some work for tomorrow's compulsory sessions - which I am facilitating. But instead of staying in my room to work, I have come down to the café instead, as I enjoy looking at the ways different hotels decorate and seeing what kind of atmosphere they create. This one is quite chilled and calm, with a few pithy quotes on the walls, and some posters with some fun details in them, like the part I have used below as the article image.
The whole image was a playing card.
Another piece of it is Cinderella's carriage.
I cropped and made the background pink.
We are affected by our surroundings, but we are generally unaware of how we are influenced, and what kinds of changes it makes in us. There have been many studies on the impacts of various colors, lighting, and many other variables, but I don't think we will ever know the full extent of the effects, because even as we discover more, we are changing too, creating a complex dynamic that we can never fully understand.
However, there are also averages and probabilities that we can work with, because like it or not, we all have far more overlap with one another, than we have differences. We might all be at different places on an individual spectrum, but we are still on the same lines, and if we were to stack all of those lines up together and overlay them, we would all look pretty similar on average. I imagine it a bit like the old encyclopedia pages of the body I read when I was a kid, where there were translucent pages that overlaid each other, showing the bones, then nervous system, muscles, etc, until the body was complete. We might all have different shapes, we might all have variations in organs, but how different are we really?
We all want to feel special.
And as a result, we keep fragmenting ourselves, slicing our labels up into an infinite selection so that without having to do anything of note, we are able to feel differentiated and as such, valuable for diversity. Yet, diversity itself doesn't bring value by default. And then, some forms of diversity might not be an indicator of bringing anything different to the table that adds value to the group. Having a different skin color or having a different gender, doesn't automatically mean new perspectives will arise that help innovation or growth.
I think a lot of the value in diversity conversation is misguided, because it doesn't break down what is required for the situation to add value. For example, the innovative and creative requirements needed to improvise and build a plan to get Apollo 13 safely back to earth, required thought and skill diversity. The process wouldn't have inherently been improved by having several gender labels or skin color groups in the team looking for a solution.
This isn't to say that diversity like that doesn't bring different perspectives, because being "different" often means having different than average experiences. For instance, as the only colored kid in my primary school, I had a unique experience in that kind of group, and it definitely had an effect on my perspectives through life. I believe that it is a big part of the reason that I observe behaviors so much, and can predict what someone might do next. It is far from infallible, nor is it unique in a large population, but it is probably a skill at a higher level than the average.
Skill diversity is far more important than identity diversity in my opinion. Diversity of identity is largely arbitrary, even though because we have learned to focus on it so heavily, it does affect our behaviors, so it is still impactful. Overly so. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to care about about something as silly as ethnicity as a way to differentiate human worth? We seem to be taking steps backward in this respect at the moment though.
We are products of our environment, including our thoughts and opinions, and probably, our feelings. We might feel that our feelings are ours, but this is unlikely to be fully the case, as we are both predispositioned and conditioned to have preferences across many factors, and our emotions react to input, to our environment. We feel based on what surrounds us, or what we expect to surround us in the future. Anxiety is a feeling based on expectations of our future environment.
I don't know if it is possible, but I wonder what it would be like to live in a "perfect" environment that brings out our best as an individual. And then, I wonder if it was possible, would it also be possible for everyone to have that kind of surrounding, what would it look like for a group of people. Would a perfect individual environment also be a perfect group environment? I don't think so.
There will always be compromise.
And I think that this is also something that is being lost in the way we see ourselves as so special, because we seem to have the expectation that we deserve not to have to compromise, but others should compromise themselves for us. It is an an entitlement issue, that drives people apart, not together, as it creates a surrounding of isolation, not the inclusion that so many claim to want.
Our environment matters, because what we surround ourselves will impact on how we see the world, and therefore, how we behave in the world. If we surround ourselves with ourselves in an environment where fulfilling our own desires is paramount, it is only natural that entitlement is going to set in, and satisfaction will come at the expense of others.
Everyone is looking for their Prince Charming.
In the mirror.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
That's cool that you got to step away for a bit and have some time to yourself. I used to be so afraid to do that when I went on business trips since my company was paying for it, I felt that I needed to fully participate in everything. I'm so glad I let that misconception go. Based on your post, it sounds a lot like people are starting to become very similar to the fiction realm these days both with movies and books. There aren't any original ideas these days, just copies or rehashes of old stuff. Maybe it's a bit that way with people too. No original ideas. By the way, I wasn't sure how best to get ahold of you, but I created a new community here on Hive and I used your rules as a basis for the rules in that community. I gave you credit in said rules, but I wanted to give you a heads up.
Me too. I told my colleague "I am going to not go unless you want me there". He knows my situation and he was fine with it.
"Prompt engineers" - it is a job now that earns well. However, what has been discovered recently and is pretty obvious, is that the AIs are better at it anyway. :)
All good on the rules! Glad it helped :)
Thanks, I appreciate it! It's actually funny because this last fall when I went to my conference I skipped several sessions because I was busy networking with other folks in my position, which if you know me is surprising! I've always felt like finding the right way to search for something on Google is a bit of a game. Maybe prompt engineer would be a good retirement job for me!
We are all different. Today my wife did not want to watch a program with three famous physicists about the Universe. We watched a YouTube program about the life of a family in the village. But now I know how to quickly plant garlic in the garden.
Garlic keeps illness away - knowing more about the universe doesn't do much :)
We are definitely products of our environment. Even the strongest individuals can't help but be influenced by the environment we are in.
And yes, I see a lot of entitlement attitudes these days, which makes me sound old LOL, but I really don't think I had any entitlement growing up during the breakup of the Soviet Union... 1991 I was still in high school.
I must be ancient!
Hard times tend to reduce the amount of entitlement. I think there is a reality in adversity that makes people a bit more pragmatic.
We are all human, to me. Thus, identity diversity is nothing than racism, but skill diversity might lead us to a better country and so world.
Skill diversity seems underrated these days.
Appearance matters today.