#96 – Mindless society
A lot of people blame society for their circumstances.
“If only society was more broad-minded, I wouldn’t face X problem.”
But society has no mind. Individuals have minds.
No society is actually stopping you from getting what you want. But yes, an unpleasant spouse, expectations from parents or relatives, a dreadful employer—these are people who can stop you from getting what you want… only if you let them.
People who blame society or someone else generally underestimate the control they have over their own lives.
They choose to be stuck because the consequences of getting unstuck seem more demanding than the consequences of being stuck and getting short pleasures of dopamine by blaming entities that are a mental construct.
The biggest matrix that disillusions you is the one in your own mind.
Someone asked me on Twitter how I landed a job as a high school dropout. I replied, “By finding people who don’t care about credentials.”
It’s that simple.
There’s almost always a better option than to blame and be stuck.
Stasis is death.
The weekly roundup
1. Book I’m reading
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
A reminder that progress and the Enlightenment ideas that created our modern world need to be defended.
2. A short argument for more freedom in education
3. On the “origins of poverty”
“Poverty has no causes. Wealth has causes.”
— Peter Bauer
New blog post
“The most unfortunate thing about life is how you can’t decide how to live for 18 years of your life.”
An optimistic take on the most unfortunate thing about life. Read the post here.
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Arjun, you are touching on the concept of the Dichotomy of Control. While it's true that we can, and should, place greater emphasis on that which we do have direct control over, there are many things (the vast majority of things in fact) that we have no control over.
From this starting point, as you illustrate, the individual's relationship with society changes.
What do you think of Enlightenment Now? I am reading it as well right now.