My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. “Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get OutĪbout a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: “Shocking and provoking people – no matter how impolite the words or actions might seem – is necessary to wake the majority of people from their moral slumber.” Describing the project of civic radicalism, he articulates a moral justification for taking disruptive action. Zamalin describes what has been a discourse of civility that has ignored the idea of mutual respect and concern for the well-being of others. So too is recognizing when “civil” or superficial discourse gets in the way of seeing and dealing with society’s problems.įrom a perspective he labels “civic radicalism,” Alex Zamalin builds a historical case against recurring calls for “civility.” Even before the Civil War, politicians invoked “civility” to champion social stability and condemn those fighting slavery and racism. How do you approach conversations with people who don’t think the way you do? Seeking common ground is a mark of respect. For Antakya, there are signs – the Christian priest sitting outside the rubble of his church, the Muslim imam who returned home after fleeing, and the Jewish refugee who longs to do the same.Says the imam: We will start again “as if we are newly born.” In Nepal, hit in 2015, the Japan International Cooperation Agency trained “mobile masons,” who spread around the country, speeding the recovery. The common thread is the power of community – of residents finding strength and neighbors near and far aroused to kindness. Civil society was “massively mobilized,” a World Bank report said.In Christchurch, New Zealand, hit in 2011, earthquake recovery efforts became a transformative force, reshaping everything from parks to recycling efforts. The need is not just to “build back better” but to “build back unbroken” – to restore the city’s unique soul.Several communities struck by earthquakes in recent years offer lessons. In Sichuan province, hit in 2008, the Chinese central government paired each affected county with an unaffected province. Historically, Antakya has embraced Muslim, Jew, and Christian – a relative haven amid the storm of sectarian strife. But after February’s devastating earthquake, the question is: Will it be the same Antakya? In today’s Daily, Sara Miller Llana and Melanie Stetson Freeman depict a town on the cusp of change, even before the earthquake. It is the home of saints and Silk Road traders, martyrs and emperors.But no one knows the story of what will happen now. Antakya has survived wars and disasters for 2,300 years. With fascinating examples ranging from how to survive being stranded in the middle of the ocean, to how Jeff Bezos avoids overconfidence, to how superforecasters outperform CIA operatives, to Reddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains deceive us and what we can do to change the way we think.The story of Antakya, Turkey, is told in the holy texts of the three Abrahamic faiths – the story of a city that was founded as Antioch by one of Alexander the Great’s generals and that became a crossroads of the ancient world. It's a handful of emotional skills, habits, and ways of looking at the world - which anyone can learn. In The Scout Mindset, Galef shows that what makes scouts better at getting things right isn't that they're smarter or more knowledgeable than everyone else. Regardless of what they hope to be the case, above all, the scout wants to know what's actually true. It's to go out, survey the territory, and come back with as accurate a map as possible. Unlike the soldier, a scout's goal isn't to defend one side over the other. From tribalism and wishful thinking, to rationalizing in our personal lives and everything in between, we are driven to defend the ideas we most want to believe - and shoot down those we don't.īut if we want to get things right more often, argues Galef, we should train ourselves to have a "scout" mindset. In other words, we have what Julia Galef calls a "soldier" mindset. When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see. ".an engaging and enlightening account from which we all can benefit." ( The Wall Street Journal )Ī better way to combat knee-jerk biases and make smarter decisions, from Julia Galef, the acclaimed expert on rational decision-making.
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