I recently lisened to 3 audio books:
- "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind",
- "Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI",
- "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow"
The books covered belief systems that I had no idea about such as humanism!
It's funny how you can fit into certain ideologies without even knowing about the existance of that belief system.
It is also funny that you can operate with multiple belief systems at once even when they are potentially contradictory.
I revealed this to a friend and they referred me to David Hume. But I have no interest in going deep in the subject.
Why? Knowing myself, I tend to go deep into a subject:
- To prove that I am right and that others are wrong. (becoming a zealot)
- To find elements to disprove of an ideology and therefore free myself from the dogma. (becoming a heathen)
The books gave me the tools to transition conversations away from whether peoples views were right or wrong and also whether they were democratic party or republican party. Instead the tools from the book let me shift the conversation to talk about democracy's, republic's, or authoritarian regimes; their suboptimal states and how what steps could be taken to correct them.
It also gave me tools to recognize when a belief was aligned with a specific belief system and discuss the benefits of that type of system and what types of self correcting mechanisms exist.
When I run into someone set in their views (most people are and I am not trying to break what works for them)
Previously, there was not much I could contribute to the discussion. It was simply a matter of did I agree, disagree, or remain silent in these conversations.
Either way, they were not going to change their views. But now I feel I have the tools for a better discussion.
It is also funny how you can fit into certain belief systems without even knowing about the existence of that belief system.
I did not know about humanism before reading the book but many of my ideas might fit under that umbrella.
But I have no intention of doing a deep dive into humanism and becoming a zealot. What I liked about the books were that they were broad and gained a greater appreciation for the beliefs of others and why they might exist.
This message still turned out to be a book. 📚
But thanks again for the book recommendation!