Filter Failure
Distorted, mistaken, or outright false information is as common as oxygen in our modern, interconnected communication ecosystem.
It should be no surprise, then, that we inhale so much of it.
This is true no matter who you are, what your level of education or social status, how intelligent you seem to be, or how deep your knowledge-reserves. Misinformation experts succumb to misinformation, and in-the-know people do ignorant things under the influence of seeming facts that, upon closer inspection, are not factual.
We’re all exposed to countless messages every day: through conversation, through sight and sound, via social networks and news networks.
We’re inundated with information, and it’s not a knock on our mental capabilities to acknowledge that our efforts to filter superfluous noise for haystack-needle signals might sometimes fail, allowing something that is untrue to infiltrate our larger, holistic sense of reality.
These particles of mistruth or misunderstanding may then inform the heuristics—the reflexive, mental shortcuts—we utilize to understand what’s happening, make decisions, and form opinions.
This in turn can influence our tribal affiliations, our behaviors, and our post hoc justifications for our actions.
It’s often unpleasant to acknowledge when we’ve been wrong, when we’ve been hoodwinked or misguided, when we’ve been the bad guy or made a knee-jerk decision that hurt someone else. But having the capacity and capability to recognize and accept when we have is part of what allows us to improve our informational filters over time.
Lacking acknowledgement of filter failure, we also lack the impetus and incentive to assess and improve our informational intake.
This may permit us to feel good about our decisions—it’s certainly more comfortable to compulsively pat ourselves on the back than it is to challenge the choices we’ve made and opinions we’ve held—but it doesn’t allow us to grow.
It’s possible to be held as intellectual and moral hostages to perspectives that we once found credible, even if they’ve since been unmasked as mere toehold-like excuses to which our egos cling in an effort to avoid being held accountable.
I try to view this dynamic, and the process of refining my informational intake, as a brain-, belief-, and behavior-shaping diet.
When you have the clarity of mind to realize that you feel unwell, that you’ve perhaps been harming yourself with a steady stream of junk food and other sorts of momentarily satisfying but somewhat toxic imbibables, it’s prudent to adjust those inputs to lessen your suffering and to give your body a chance to heal.
One common response to this polluted feeling is to avoid food altogether, but I would argue that the more ideal response to a harmful diet isn’t starving yourself: it’s intentionally building a better diet. One that is satisfying and healthful, optimized for you and your specific needs, and one that is intentionally built from the ground-up.
If you ever find yourself wanting to detoxify after mainlining an informational binge, consider what a healthy, balanced, growth-oriented collection of inputs might look like, and how you might reorient your personal habits and info-infrastructure to make that intake a sustainable reality.
For most of us, neither stress-inducing, filter-straining overwhelm nor awareness-depriving, responsibility-denying malnutrition are optimal defaults.
It’s worth keeping our intended outcomes in mind as we look out at the world, and as we assess what shapes our perception of it.
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Projects
Brain Lenses: Uncanny & Observer-Expectancy Effect
Let’s Know Things: Post-Stagnation
Yesterday’s Newsletter: PrendeTV, Farm Laws, Walmart
Curiosity Weekly: January 12, 2021
Other: I’ve arrived at the maintenance phase of my “learn all the countries in the world and where they are on the map” project—which basically means I can fill in a blank map of the world with all the officially designated countries, and now it’s a matter of continuing to practice that knowledge so it’s more fully locked-in and doesn’t dissipate with time.
I’m trying to decide what to explore next; I’m thinking of filling in geographic territories, as well, or maybe capital cities. But I’m also thinking about applying that daily memorization-effort to something else, like learning all the muscle groups or bones; something that’s also spacial in nature, but more distinct.
I’m very open to suggestions about this if you have any thoughts on the matter :)
Interesting & Useful
Some neat things to click:
The Rise of “Jingle Trucks” and Truck Art in Pakistan(I’ve seen similar things in other countries, but this is a really fun application of the concept)
Photography by Derek Larsen(some beautiful black and white photos)
The Year in Cheer(a list of somewhat random, generally positive facts)
Is Light Fundamentally a Wave or a Particle?(solid response)
Escapista(what a delight: a stream of categorized, passive, experiential videos)
What It’s Like To Be Dyslexic(a simulation; friends who are dyslexic have told me this is a decent approximation of their experience)
Wake Up, Doris(mundane online drama made into dramatic music)
Outro
My at-home internet disappeared last night and hasn’t yet been repaired, and my mobile signal out here in the boonies of mid-Missouri is not good—so I apologize for any errors in this missive: things are jumping around on the screen randomly, auto-saving and then reverting to previous versions according to some kind of demonic whim, all of which is making this process three or four times more difficult than usual because my data signal is a trickle instead of its usual ponderous-but-useable flow.
That said: it’s been quite a week, folks.
I sent the last newsletter out a few hours before everything went sideways at the US Capitol building back on the 6th, and it seems like several months have passed over the previous seven days—it’s been a lot.
If you’re stressed, if you’re anxious, if you’re struggling or otherwise not doing okay: you’re not alone. You’re not crazy for feeling that way. Things’ll get better, but you’re having a rational response to uncertain and psychologically exhausting times.
Saying that doesn’t make things any easier, I know, but I think it’s important in such moments to remember that this is not forever and this will pass; but to also steel ourselves for the muck we’ll have to wade through in the meantime.
You’re more than capable of facing and struggling through all the nonsense you’re dealing with right now, but if you want to share, to vent, to complain or seethe or just receive some praise for the everyday, tiny victories you’re accomplishing, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I would love to hear from you.
If you’re keen to say hello, or want to submit an awkward selfie, you can reach me at colin@exilelifestyle.com or by responding to this email.
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You can also communicate via the usual channels: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or delightful, stop-motion video.
If you’re finding some value in what I’m doing here, consider supporting my work via one of these methods: Become a patron / Buy a book / Subscribe to Brain Lenses
You can also buy me a coffee if that’s simpler :)
High resolution, ultra-macro footage of organic objects drying out.