Death of the Experts?

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E/Bing)

We've designed the internet to spread misinformation as we've prioritized "views" over "facts". The lifeblood of an influencer is in "views" which means that they may not necessarily fact-check everything they promote. They are likely to make decisions based on views more so than anything else.

Experts are people that have acquired expertise via credible sources while influencers are people that exert an expertise they may not have. Influencers builds trust with their audiences which allows them to be more believable in their message than an unknown expert.

"Why would I believe you, an expert that I don't know, when mamajojo on youtube, whom I've watched for years, is saying something different?"

We need to fix this problem on multiple fronts:

• We need a change in the internet algorithm to minimize the spread of misinformation.
• While free speech doesn't allow us to censor misinformation, do we really need to put it on the front page?
• We need influencers to fact-check their messages.
• We need viewers to understand that what they see online isn't necessarily true and may just exist for the sake of generating views.
• We need everyone to prioritize facts over sensationalism. 

Misinformation isn't an easy problem to fix as facts tend to be boring. When a journalist writes something, he'll put things in his work to shock the audience as this is what generates money. We need to find a balance and right now it feels like the scale is too much on the side of misinformation.

Those that Can Play with the Law

I like to believe that an innocent person is less likely to go to prison than a person guilty of a crime is allowed to be free. The reality seems to be that the more money someone has the less likely that person is going to prison regardless if a crime was committed or not. 

If you take the case of Bill Cosby, where upward of 60 women have accused him of assault, you can see how a good lawyer can make all the difference in a case. Of course, this isn't to say that all of those 60 women were trustworthy but last I checked Bill Cosby spent but a few months in jail before being set free even though it was proven in court that assaults did take place for some of those women.

The most extreme of cases has to be Trump who's lawyers, as I understand, spends a considerable amount of time in court for one thing or another. When Trump is ordered to provide such things as tax documents, he counter sues, delays, or expertly plays the laws as to not need to do it. When Trump is ordered to provide his phone as evidence in a case, he says he lost it further delaying what ever conviction this could of brought to light. I'm absolutely convinced that if Trump had done the crimes he's accused of, and didn't have the millions of dollars to defend himself, he would be in prison right now. I mean, there's got to be something that he's guilty of otherwise why would anyone be spending so much time in court? Not cooperating with a court order is a crime in itself.

While money doesn't buy happiness, it does allow someone to play the law enough to get little to no sentences for crimes. Canada/US are countries that like to think of themselves as "justice for all" but it often favors those that can afford it.

Gaming Companies Need a Positive Work Environment

Whether it be Blizzard/Activision, Ubisoft, EA or others... buying a game today feels like supporting some sort of corporate monster that overwork employees or that foster a culture of sexual harassment. Sure, the games those companies produce might be fun to play but the cost of playing them goes beyond the dollar as we're directly supporting the negative environment that created these games. 

I play games because it's fun but the negative work experience many employees went through to created these games tarnishes the overall fun factor for me. I can't help but wonder how many women had to endure unwanted sexual advances in order to work on these games? How many crazy hours did these employees have to work to create these games?

A recent McDonalds ad showed that the coffee they sell are from 100% ethically sourced beans. When you buy a McDonalds' coffee, according to their ad campaign, you're supporting an ethical system which is something that may not be the case with competitors. 

McDonalds is attempting to sell peace of mind along with their coffee and this is something those big gaming companies need to start doing because we live in a world where any, angry, employee can reach millions of people by sharing details of a negative work environment on social media and this is bound to have a negative impact on the overall image of the company.

*Note: This post was taken from my https://www.geekectual.com/ blog.

Don't Believe Everything You See Online

If you're Canadian, then chances are that you've heard about the House Hippo ad that use to be shown on T.V. to remind everyone not to believe everything we see or hear. Is it time to re-run this add to remind us not to believe everything we see on T.V. and, especially, the Internet?

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen, during one of his nomination, said it best:

There have been many conspiracy theories in the wake of the Pandemic and most don't even have facts to back it up. Why is it that some people think that their 10 min Google research is enough to prove, or disprove, something? Why is it that we would rather listen to "Blogger434" than the advice of an expert?

We can, literally, find anything online that supports our beliefs but that doesn't mean that it holds any ground. I can ask Google "is the Earth flat?" and I'm going to find hundred of thousands of sites that supports this idea and, again, it doesn't mean that it's right.

How do we know if this Pandemic is real? 

If you're asking yourself this question then you likely don't believe anything that's in the news right now (and you shouldn't) but do you really think that all Governments have banded together to mess up the economy like this? Do you really think that all the news about doctors and nurses crying are fake? How would it be possible to setup a global phenomenon like this and have everyone on board with it? What use would it have? Do you need to experience these events yourself in order to know they are real?

This isn't my first rant on this subject but I'm constantly reminded, by my Facebook friends, how easy we believe in things that just aren't true. The mere existence of a conspiracy doesn't make it true. It's frustrating to see people I highly respect fall prey to a blogger who's only wish was to gain views in order to boost his revenue. We need to be careful!

Feelings to Control

Before we goes to the heart of this post, it is important to differentiate between Feelings and Emotions since most people seems to interchange or confuse the two.

What’s an emotions?
According to imotions.com , emotions “are associated with bodily reactions that are activated through neurotransmitters and hormones released by the brain…”

What’s a feeling?
According to imotions.com, feelings are “originating in the neocortical regions of the brain, feelings are sparked by emotions and colored by personal experiences, beliefs, memories, and thoughts linked to that particular emotion. Strictly speaking, a feeling is the side product of your brain perceiving an emotion and assigning a certain meaning to it.”

A clearer example of the difference between emotions and feelings is when you’re getting slapped. Emotions is the pain that originates from it while feelings is how you react to that pain.

Humans can control their emotions...
This means that humans have control over their feelings which can cast doubts on the sincerity of them. Seeing someone cry doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s sad.
Actors, who are masters at controlling their feelings, uses their acting skills for the purpose of entertaining an audience. They cry when their fictional son dies so that we also feel sad about it.

Some uses their feelings as a way to exercise control over people for malicious reasons. They show remorse even when they do not feel like it. They cry when they do not feel like crying.

Why do they do this?
They do so for their benefits. Because they don’t want to take responsibility. Because they want you to think that they are innocent.

How can you tell if someone is controlling you?
Some are better than others at controlling their feelings so it’s not always possible to tell if they are sincere or not in the moment. In some cases, the more time spent with someone the better you’ll become at identifying how sincere the feelings conveyed are.

-Good/Right Vs Bad/Wrong-

"If what you say and do is of God, it doesn't make any difference if every other person on the face of the earth criticizes you. Likewise, if what you are doing is not of God, nothing other people say will make it right." -John Mason

Whether you believe there's a God or not doesn't change the fact that we should all do good. When I was younger, I used to stupidly tell my friends that I will be one of those people that will be remembered-in a good or bad way.
Growing up, I realize that it's harder said then done to be good but that doesn't make "bad" any more attractive. Now that I know more about the world and see evil for what it is, there's no way anyone can purposely want to be remembered for the bad things they've done-not ever Hitler.

"Get to know the right, then you would know the people of right. Right is not measured by its men, but men are measured by their right." -Ali

We all have a deep desire to be good but that's often clouded with layers of dirt and the only way to remove it is to turn to a source of good and follow the examples. For some people, the dirt is so thick that they're blinded to the hurt they're doing to themselves and those around them making "looking for good" a critical step in changing their life around.

If our goal is truly to become better people then we must have a deep understanding of Right and Wrong. We must do what's right and run away from what is wrong. Plug in to the right sources.

*This post can also be found on Men 2.0

Character is Integrity in Action

Chris Brady is a good story teller and one of his stories was about the difference between integrity and character. He said something like this:

"I want you to go back in time to your school years. You walk to school and you see a girl being bullied. Integrity is doing the right thing of not joining in on the bullying. Character is integrity in action which mean you not only not join in the bullying; you also attempt to stop it."

In other words, character is integrity in action. Now go out there and fix what's wrong with this world!

Character Alignment

Based on Chris Brady’s talk on Character

If there’s a little girl being bullied. Integrity is not joining in to bully the little girl. Character is not only not bullying the little girl, it’s also attempting to stop the bullying because it’s the right thing to do.

---
Originally posted - October 2010

Don’t follow your heart

We have a tendency to only do things when “we feel like it”. We never really accomplish anything because of it.

Do you really think that a body builder felt like going to the gym every day? Do you really think that Stephen King felt like writing every day?

We can’t follow our heart, we have to lead it. We have to set ourselves some goals and have the discipline to follow them through.

Do What You Say!

God sure works in weird ways sometimes. I always was the kind of guy to say something and do something else when the time comes. By doing this, over time, people loose the trust that they have in you and there’s no relationship if there’s no trust.

I never had any consequences from doing so or at least that I could see (cause I found out today that there was). Starting today, my motto is “If you said it … DO IT!”

Can you look back in your life and pin-point times where you said you were going to do something but ended up not doing it?

My Integrity for a pair of Heaphones?

I have a tendency to forget things when I don’t write it down. Today I forgot to bring my headphones at work and I sent a few emails away to ask people if they had a pair to spare. A guy from the Tech department said that he had some available but it was only for work purposes.

I was faced with a choice, I could either lie to him and get the headphones or tell the truth and not have any. Nobody would have known except for me.

Integrity is doing what’s morally right. Every time you don’t, you’re giving your integrity away. I believe that the more you give it away, the more it will trouble you.

Would you have given your integrity for a pair of headphones?

[Update December 2, 2019]
This blog post consistently make it on my most viewed list so I've decided to expand on it a bit.

I remember clearly the event that made me write this post. It was at an old office and I was about to listen to leadership CDs called "Integrity" only to realize that I had forgotten my headphones. When I asked our IT guy if we had any to spare he said that he can only lend them to me if it's for work purposes.
I could of lied to get the headphones but that would of made me kind of an hypocrite wouldn't it? I mean there's got to be a special place in hell for people that lie to get headphones in order to listen to a leadership cd about Integrity?

I chose to wait but sometimes I wonder if I would of took them if the leadership CD would of been about another subject. Every day, we're faced with thousands of decisions that ultimately define who we are.

Do we choose to be a person of integrity or lie just to get the headphones?