Persistent Ideas To False Beliefs
John Ink2Quill September 2023 Opinions
www.ink2quill.com

Persistent ideas. There are so many of them. And by persistent ideas I mean thoughts and beliefs that are but should not be held as truths. I read a great book that highlights this idea in the world of baseball called “Moneyball”. I won’t rehash the story, even though I should, but suffice it to say that following and acting on false beliefs has consequences. It can lead to all kinds of distress the way the Death Star in the film “Star Wars” had a gaping weakness in spite of the fact it was as large as a planet. Most important is that we should strive to see the world as honestly as we can and even consult with each other on that. I have seen so many cases where failure to do so led to bad consequences.

This new world of internet and A.I. has bred a brood of false ideas that we act on daily. The results of which have an enormous impact on all our lives. Think of how our reliance on algorithms to do all the background evaluations and decision making for us has grown. This is already dystopic. Situations are more and more guessed ahead of time instead of living in the moment. Now, there is a place for predictive technologies in society but these technologies can ever so slowly become the proverbial noose around our necks if we are not careful. I would hate to see any kind of discriminations become accepted science, the way phrenology was. These predictive technologies should not be seen as any kind of moral authority either.

However, predictive technologies are incredibly useful to the point of being essential to modern society. If used correctly, and I stress the word correctly, they are a wonderful addition to our tool set as a species. Uses such as for space flight or mining where these technologies would be better at finding resources, giving environmental impact estimates are ideal uses for this.

So, now that we have given our opinion on the use of technologies let us discuss ideas. Because false ideas and often the people who spread them can also be a detriment to us all. Whether these people who spread false beliefs call themselves gurus, specialists or industry leaders we need to exercize more discernment with the ideas we accept as truths and live our lives by.

A false idea that comes to mind is that of paper money. Yes that vanishing but loved part of our lives. We have so many false ideas about paper money. For the longest time it was believed that all the problems of society stemmed from paper money and the greed it created in people. This is just not true. Today with the emergence of digital money we will realize better than ever the advantages of paper money. The advantages of paper money start with anonymity. A person’s spending can be kept private. This is a huge advantage for the consumer because privacy in spending will have positive effects in other parts of a person’s life. That means more freedom in many ways and a higher level of financial safety from financial predation. Another not-so-thought-of advantage is for collectors who can physically collect the money of today the way people collect art. It will be a piece of our history from the present. So, this idea that paper money is all bad is a myth.

Another set of false ideas comes from our perception of digital money. It is true that digital money makes transactions faster and can handle a much bigger volume of business than paper money could but it is not a system without disadvantages. With digital money today a person will lose their financial privacy and that is a big deal. Under digital financial systems a person can lose access to their money or simply have their money expire. Imagine a case where the government has to fight inflation and so decides to confiscate its citizens money by giving it expiration dates. So, the idea that digital money has no disadvantages is a myth we should dispel as soon as possible.

So, I hope these changing times bring about the development of peoples’ discernment so we really can live better lives and make better decisions.

John Ink2Quill

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