Fate


Fate
athena_lumina

The Different Narratives we Live In

Most Likely Blindspot: High Friction

One thing I wish people understood more is that different people and different cultures have different narratives that frame their worldview.

An implication is the possibility that people end up not being able to understand one another well when it comes to understanding the differences in values.

One simple example is when someone who prioritizes security and certainty above all encounters someone who prioritizes adventure and pursuing high risk high reward missions. And the two of them just look down on one another.

I think that the framing that people tend to use when trying to understand differences is wrong. They like to think in simple terms like “that belief is obviously wrong because-” but the problem is that many beliefs should not be separated from context.

There are many beliefs that are wrong regardless of context (ex: “I will drink this bottle of poison to become immortal.” type beliefs that demonstrate a wrong understanding of causality) But many beliefs don't have clear causality as some work better in some contexts more than others (Ex: higher degree of risk orientation is more viable for someone with more financial buffers and less commitments.)

Someone who is wired to prioritize safety and have low risk tolerance benefits more from pursuing things that have a high certainty of success and that offer security. Someone who is wired to be novelty seeking and to want adventure will not see it as optimal to pursue the strategy of the other person described.

This isn't to say that everyone is already pursuing the optimal strategy for their goals. I'm only saying that we need to understand in the first place why their strategies are the way they are before we critique it based only on our own context.

When encountering different people, ask yourself, what narrative are they living out? What are the underlying factors for why they live out their narratives?

The more you do this and practice detachment from needing people to believe what you do, you can even learn to learn from other people and integrate new beliefs if they fit your context.

And you can learn higher empathy too. You can learn to speak their language and relate to others. You can frame things in terms of what narrative they live in and have constructive dialogue even if your actual narrative is different.


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