Introduction
Recently I've been pondering the question of why modern society has become excessively narcissistic, vacuous and simultaneously polarised.
Here I would like to share some of my thoughts on how I think the central problem relates to myths and perceptions that are perpetuated by modern culture.
This is an opinion based piece of writing rather than something based on a study.
Gorillas in Suits
In the opening few minutes of one of my favourite movies "2001 : A Space Odyssey" we see proto-human apes struggling for survival.
Two tribes fight each other over resources (water). One tribe drives the other away.
An encounter with an alien device (monolith) leads to the initially defeated tribe "changing".
In an iconic movie moment one of the apes from the previously defeated (and now transformed) tribe grabs a bone and uses it as a weapon.
This represents the first use of technology and as the movie subtitles it, represents the "Ascent of Man".
We see the bone fly into the air and it slowly morphs into a spacecraft.
If we put aside the alien connotations here this famous movie moment makes a profound statement about humans and civilisation.
In the blink of an eye (in evolutionary terms) we have gone from struggling apes beating each other to death with bones to a technological civilisation with the capability for space travel.
The problem is that civilisation is just a thin veneer.
We are still beating each other to death except the bone is now a missile, a bomb or a drone.
The person who is doing it may be wearing a suit or sitting behind a desk but the intent and motivations behind it, those basic human drives are exactly the same.
The accoutrements may have changed but the organism at the centre hasn't.
The Problem Is We Believe Our Own Hype
The culture and systems we have built up around ourselves give us the impression that we are somehow beyond animalistic desires and tendencies.
Sadly it is based on false ideas and profound errors of thinking.
We are by nature prone to narcissism and the idea that we are "highly evolved" creatures on some superior level appeals to our egos.
Confirmation bias is a powerful force and we have a tendency to seek out those things which support our opinions.
I believe there is also a subset of this bias which extends to things which we "want to believe".
I have not come across a specific name for this (I suspect there is probably a German word there always is) but this seems to be a mixture of narcissism and conformation bias.
We want to believe we are noble and righteous, so we seek out those things which confirm that opinion.
We ignore anything that contradicts the belief.
In addition I believe modern technology and media may be amplifying these tendencies.
I will attempt to explain how:
The Modern Environment Reinforces This
These days we live a situation where we are able to pick and choose the opinions we are exposed to.
The online world and also media in general makes it easy for us to cocoon ourselves in an environment which basically tells us everything we want to hear.
We follow certain websites, newspapers and TV channels which agree with views we want to hear and we ignore or reject those that don't.
I have noticed this tendency within myself and it seems to be getting progressively worse over time - partly because of technology.
Technology has made it so easy that we don't even need to think about it. Complex algorithms created by companies like Google and Facebook only present us with what they think we want to see.
TVs and DVRs do the same kind of thing with programming recommendations - mine even records programs for me that it thinks I will like.
Every menu and recommendation is tailored to our tastes.
In this way whatever opinion you have or whatever you believe you can create your own reality around it.
Nobody can question you unless you actively seek it out. There is no mental effort or reasoned justification.
We are able to exist in our own safe "bubbles".
This is a kind of political correctness taken to the extreme where all opinions are given equal weight and value.
Nobody likes being wrong so it is easier (and less painful) to create the illusion that everyone agrees.
The mega-corporations and media companies know this and since they are basically trying to sell to us they keep us happy by reinforcing these ideas.
I believe that this is inherently unhealthy and is at least partly responsible for the extreme polarisation of contemporary times:
Why Is This Bad?
Like the alcoholic who cannot see there is a problem, we become entrenched in behaviours that harm others as well as ourselves.
We don't see the damage we are doing so we don't have an opportunity to change.
We lose insight into the lives and problems of others and I believe it makes us more divided as a society.
We all see ourselves as the noble hero in our own story - we fail to see the wrongs we do and we take inappropriate offence to the things that others do.
This leads to grievances becoming worse over time and people becoming more and more polarised.
This is all plain to see in our political environment.
I also believe it extends to almost all areas of modern life, from our jobs to our relationships.
Do you think you are above all this?
Maybe you are, or maybe you want to believe that so strongly that you are falling prey to the very bias and narcissism that I described.
I know that I still do and I don't think any of us are beyond it.
This is part of the day to day human struggle and just denying it does not make it go away.
What Can Be Done?
The first step is acknowledging that we have a problem.
We need to admit that we are irrational and emotional beings that are not always governed by logic.
We need to accept when we make mistakes and apologise when we are in the wrong.
This is not easy because we live in a blame focused and "mistake phobic" society.
I think this is at least in part because of the litigious nature of modern culture.
This in itself is based on the preposterous idea that nobody should ever make a mistake and that someone must be responsible for everything that happens.
In my opinion it is a patently infantile way of looking at the world and life in general.
I also think it does more harm than good.
On the one hand it ratchets up the expectations that we make of others and on the other it makes people afraid of owning up to and learning from mistakes.
Ultimately it actually encourages the triumph of ignorance over reason and holds us all back.
We need to surround ourselves with people that challenge our opinions rather than just self-selected "Yes" men who share our every attitude and opinion.
In doing so we also need to accept that we are not always right and we need to come to terms with it.
Failing to do so is harmful to us as a society and will at the very least lead to cultural stagnation.
In a worse scenario it could cause greater conflict between different groups of people as those stagnated cultures become more polarised and divided.
The eventual result could even be civil wars and more world wars.
None of these outcomes are good.
Conclusion
Anyway this is already getting too long.
My basic point is that modern society makes it easier for us to buy into the narcissistic myth that we are always right and for us to create a false reality based around that idea.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Thank you for reading
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