Instead of Being Cynical, Try Becoming Skeptical - by Jamil Zaki - Behavioral Scientist
Jamil Zakibehavioralscientist.org
Instead of Being Cynical, Try Becoming Skeptical - by Jamil Zaki - Behavioral Scientist
"Isn’t it telling that in modern usage the realist has become synonymous with the cynic–for someone with a pessimistic outlook? In truth, it’s the cynic who’s out of touch." (from "Humankind: A Hopeful History" by Rutger Bregman, Erica Moore, Elizabeth Manton)
the guidelines include (1) “interrogate information instead of simply consuming it,” (2) “reject rank and popularity as a proxy for reliability,” and (3) “understand that the sender of information is often not its source.”
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Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, Valerio, such as reading to your ... See more
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There’s a lot of conventional wisdom out there telling you to “trust yourself,” to “go with your gut,” and all sorts of other pleasant-sounding clichés. But perhaps the answer is to trust yourself less. After all, if our hearts and minds are so unreliable, maybe we should be questioning our own intentions and motivations more. If we’re all wrong, a
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