Etcetera 25: Living Well In A Post-Rational World
I have occasionally hear the comment that we are living in a post-truth world. It wasn't necessarily that truth had once existed and had now disappeared; it was more the idea that our ability to know anything with confidence had been so severely undermined that, for all practical purposes, it was as if truth no longer impacted our lives. Surely the Internet Age has not been helpful with all of its "alternative facts" and fake news. In spite of having more access than ever to information, it is increasingly hard to discern what is actually true. (Neil Postman warned us of this years ago in his excellent speech "Informing Ourselves To Death.")
Perhaps it was inevitable this would impact our ability to reason and live with consistency and integrity such that it might be fair to say we are also living in a post-rational world. Maybe our ability to instantly and globally communicate just makes clear what has always existed, but it sure seems as if people increasingly live duplicitous and perhaps even incoherent lives: saying one thing and doing the other; not applying the same standard to themselves that they do to others; embracing confirmation bias as if it were a dear friend; displaying informal fallacies of thought and ironically inconsistent lives.
Beth and Anthony solve that problem in this podcast. Well, maybe not, but it's worth stepping into it, right?
You can listen to Etcetera #25: Living Well In A Post-Rational World on Soundcloud or on various podcast apps (such as Podcast Addict or Stitcher Radio). As always, we appreciate interaction with you! Feel free to comment on this blog or on our Facebook page. We value your feedback, as well as any ideas for future guests or shows!
LINKS
If We Want To Be Taken Seriously (Anthony's blog post)
Informing Ourselves To Death (Neil Postman)
Facebook is hiring moderators. But is the job too gruesome to handle? (Beth referred to this topic)
Perhaps it was inevitable this would impact our ability to reason and live with consistency and integrity such that it might be fair to say we are also living in a post-rational world. Maybe our ability to instantly and globally communicate just makes clear what has always existed, but it sure seems as if people increasingly live duplicitous and perhaps even incoherent lives: saying one thing and doing the other; not applying the same standard to themselves that they do to others; embracing confirmation bias as if it were a dear friend; displaying informal fallacies of thought and ironically inconsistent lives.
Beth and Anthony solve that problem in this podcast. Well, maybe not, but it's worth stepping into it, right?
You can listen to Etcetera #25: Living Well In A Post-Rational World on Soundcloud or on various podcast apps (such as Podcast Addict or Stitcher Radio). As always, we appreciate interaction with you! Feel free to comment on this blog or on our Facebook page. We value your feedback, as well as any ideas for future guests or shows!
LINKS
If We Want To Be Taken Seriously (Anthony's blog post)
Informing Ourselves To Death (Neil Postman)
Facebook is hiring moderators. But is the job too gruesome to handle? (Beth referred to this topic)
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