As our world grows more complex our thinking grows more compartmentalized HEAD TOPICS

As our world grows more complex our thinking grows more compartmentalized

10/23/2022 12:45:00 AM

As our world grows more complex our thinking grows more compartmentalized Opinion

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Dallas Morning News

As our world grows more complex our thinking grows more compartmentalized Opinion The whole of the world is far too complex to see and understand. Some people know this, and take steps to compensate. Many do not know or care, and make... As our world grows more complex, our thinking becomes more compartmentalized. That's dangerous, writes contributor David Newman.(DrAfter123 / Getty Images)David Newman12:01 PM on Oct 22, 2022 CDTThe whole of the world is far too complex to see and understand. Some people know this, and take steps to compensate. Many do not know or care, and make absolutist claims about matters that in fairness demand a much deeper dive. Ignorance is frightening. Complexity is frustrating. So we compensate by compartmentalizing the most complex aspects of daily life. This is a phenomenon that was studied closely by thinkers like Hannah Arendt, who described the defense used by Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann as an example of the “banality of evil.” If information is too complex, and one is in a hierarchy that demands rigid adherence to the contours of a particular box, one might be an architect of the worst genocide in human history and — because of the limits imposed by the hierarchical strictures of the “box” one sits in as a subaltern in a bureaucracy — truly not know the evil with which one has been complicit. (To be fair, there is compelling evidence that Eichmann did know exactly what he was doing, and did it with enthusiasm.) Read more:
Dallas Morning News » Massive-Verse's Inferno Girl Red Solo Comic Preview How Therapists Are Using Tabletop Games to Help People Marlon Wayans Says Movies Like 'White Chicks' Are Needed And Explained Why Jokes Shouldn't Get A Person Canceled Douglas Elliman brokerage unveils swanky second office in River Oaks

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President Joe Biden said Friday that while he has not made a formal decision about running for reelection in 2024, it is his 'intention' to do so. Read more >> Massive-Verse's Inferno Girl Red Solo Comic PreviewBut Image's growing comics universe will bring Cássia Costa into a world of darkness first. KyleDHiggins I'm so excited aaaaaaa. How Therapists Are Using Tabletop Games to Help PeopleIn a therapeutic setting, games like Dungeons & Dragons give clients a safe space to explore everything from gender to social skills—and have fun while doing it. An old group I worked with did this for years and it was incredible. I actually ran groups in Hospice facilities from 2010 to 2012. Just amazing more people are doing it. Thanks for the interview and the great article ! Marlon Wayans Says Movies Like 'White Chicks' Are Needed And Explained Why Jokes Shouldn't Get A Person Canceled'The best way to grow up is to grow your audience, and understand that it doesn't always have to be the raunchy or crazy.' Douglas Elliman brokerage unveils swanky second office in River OaksThe office will house the growing sales team, which now numbers 171 agents. Ohio ranks poorly for electric vehicle infrastructure, but solutions in the worksLocal communities are working to create and grow their network of electric vehicle charging stations. DON'T BUY THEM, IT'S THAT SIMPLE We can’t afford to accept the boxes we’re put in.The series, drawn by Erica D’urso (The Mighty Valkyries) Kickstarter with a goal of about $42,0o0 in U.The Bruce Willis Deepfake Is Everyone’s Problem Will Bedingfield Bean still GMs for some clients about once every other week and tailors his games to the players.instagram. As our world grows more complex, our thinking becomes more compartmentalized. That's dangerous, writes contributor David Newman. dollars; fans blew past it, donating over $67,800. (DrAfter123 / Getty Images) David Newman 12:01 PM on Oct 22, 2022 CDT The whole of the world is far too complex to see and understand.” Who It’s For TTRPG therapy can be valuable for a variety of populations, including people with a history of trauma, people exploring identity, and people who struggle socially. Some people know this, and take steps to compensate. Here’s the official synopsis: “A new school, new relationships, new possibilities—for any teenager, big moves are both challenging and exciting. Many do not know or care, and make absolutist claims about matters that in fairness demand a much deeper dive. I would say my most important job has been being a father. Ignorance is frightening. “And it parallels a question we’ve been asking ourselves as creators: what are superhero comics going to become? What should they become?” Here, you can check out all six covers that will grace issue #2, but first, a small preview of what the young hero will be facing: Image. Boccamazzo was diagnosed with autism at 35 and said that D&D provided a safe framework to practice various social scripts he was able to translate into his real life. Complexity is frustrating. So we compensate by compartmentalizing the most complex aspects of daily life. This is a phenomenon that was studied closely by thinkers like Hannah Arendt, who described the defense used by Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann as an example of the “banality of evil. “And I got to feel powerful in a way that I just didn't in my day-to-day life.” If information is too complex, and one is in a hierarchy that demands rigid adherence to the contours of a particular box, one might be an architect of the worst genocide in human history and — because of the limits imposed by the hierarchical strictures of the “box” one sits in as a subaltern in a bureaucracy — truly not know the evil with which one has been complicit. I also recommended some movies for her to watch, like White Chicks . (To be fair, there is compelling evidence that Eichmann did know exactly what he was doing, and did it with enthusiasm.) The American psychologist Stanley Milgram decided to test people in our modern culture to see what level of deference to authority existed. “If something's fun you're gonna go to it again. How committed are people to staying inside their boxes? He wanted to know whether a Holocaust could happen here. He set up an experiment in which volunteers could either walk out when asked to do something that seemed clearly to be harming another volunteer (who was in fact a paid actor), or continue to deliver electric shock the other “volunteer” and defer moral authority to the doctor figure who kept saying, “Please continue; I will take all responsibility.” More than 60% of his subjects continued the test to a point where they were pushing a button that was palpably torturing the other human, Milgram recorded. “It just transforms their ability to feel like their opinion matters and who they want to be also matters,” Bean says. I'm a student to what I do to my craft, to writing, to acting, to producing, to stand-up, and to the dramatic arts, I do the work. This test was rolled out in the early 1960s, and the rate of compliance was astonishing to Milgram. He had not thought so many would essentially hand over their conscience uncritically to an authority figure. The volunteers who did not walk out — the terrifying majority — were, Milgram decided, conditioned by the nature of overwhelmingly complex institutions and political power groupings. Even when the character arc wasn’t centered on gender, “it offered a safe space for me to try on those different pronouns and take risks I might not have felt comfortable with in real life,” Hayakawa explains. These people were used to handing their consciences, and their capacity for critical thinking, over to larger organizations that demanded unquestioning compartmentalization. I see the implications of such research every time I ask students to think outside of boxes in which they have been placed. So, at some point, the tides will shift, and I'll get those opportunities that have been eluding me. For example, I ask students to read a poem by Billy Collins called “The History Teacher. The game is played in complete darkness, with the exception of 10 candles.” “But that’s not English, mister; why should we talk about history in an English class?” My answer is always to cite the examples used above; to read Arendt and Milgram in class and to discuss whether the study of an author’s purpose or cultural critiques would make any sense at all without a historical context. This is a first step in a long process of getting young people who are wholly unprepared to find and defend their own moral compass when complex political or social issues arise. Such issues always arise; we swim in the medium of social media, and young people are profoundly accustomed to using information they find on-line without any critical thinking at all. Despite the characters’ hopeless condition, “they never gave up hope,” Levitt said. Another example comes from my daily life: I have chronic back pain, and use a pain clinic with locations sprawled over Central and West Texas. If a joke is gonna get me canceled, thank you for doing me that favor. Its marketing slogan is all about the “integrated” pain management. In fact, there is an appalling lack of continuity of care. I do not know which doctor I will see next. I do not know whether anyone treating me on a particular visit will know anything at all about my prior history at the clinics and surgery centers. Usually this information is not known. I'm still gonna tell my jokes the way I tell them. Usually I am treated as a new patient, having to describe all the prior surgeries, implants, and treatment decisions to each new nurse and doctor. I am in a box. The giant “integrated” pain management personnel cannot look beyond the box to see a person who remembers all of the care received, and who yearns for a provider who sees the same big picture I do and uses specialized knowledge truly to integrate my care. The point? We all live and function inside of boxes created to manage complex and variegated information. Most of us never consider how our boxes connect to each other, or to the boxes other people live inside. One thing about the Wayans, we've always told the worst joke the best way. Those who hand over moral responsibility to the box-makers hand over their minds and their consciences: two things that should not be separated, and should never be surrendered out of expedience. What we really surrender is the spark of divinity we are graced with. Boxes do more to extinguish that spark than any other evil we have devised. And that is worth thinking about, and acting upon. David Newman teaches English at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi and Odessa. I'm so mad. He wrote this for The Dallas Morning News. We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and .