Evolution of Diversity

When I first saw the movie Valerian, I was fascinated with the vision of a “City of a Thousand Planets”. We “pride” ourselves with initiatives fostering inclusiveness, diversity, and being open to new learnings and opportunities, and yet, as a species we are far from celebrating unity in diversity as pictured in this Hollywood blockbuster.

It all starts with Information.

With the internet and cell phones now globally available in even remote villages, we live in an age where information is quickly available at our fingertips. But just like not all food is really  nutritious, not all information is created equal. Next to the problem of information overload, certain pieces of news require strong (mind) digestion capabilities, which is why most people tend to simply look away when certain aspects don't quite fit their own narrative.

That may be fine in our personal lives, but it becomes worrisome in scientific research, where genuine information is being sacrificed in favor of “scientism”, which could easily be dubbed the religion of the 21st century. As Allan Savory addresses in this short video “What is science?”, information (particularly in respect to scientific pursuits) needs to be subject to neutral investigation, not only be considered within already framed concepts and academia alone:

At this juncture in time, we need more people who pursue real knowledge and truth at all costs, because without them, we could end up in denial of actual inclusiveness, genuine diversity and might never truly explore our full potential as the people in the City of a Thousand Planets did.

In fact, by consuming only a certain type of information (which is compatible with our view of the world), we are driving ourselves into certain “thinking camps”. Whilst this was always the case in history, the danger today lies with the algorithms which keep feeding our beliefs and governing our day to day media consumption in an highly individualized fashion at scale. It will be hard to get out of such “mind prisons”, unless we start to proactively make an effort to understand each other’s points of views yet again, without the fear of consequences, and in person, 1:1 face to face conversations.

Separation wherever I look

Personally I therefore decided to explore talking more with the people who I know have different points of view. I came across terms such as “mainstream”, “normal”, saw people talking about “red and blue pills”, about “sheep and sheeple”, about actual conspiracies and mere theories alone.

I find this terminology truly unfortunate, because it is only further divocing the otherwise phenomenally broad spectrum race of beings we ought to be. More than a gender, color, or religious separation, the current division of the world is being driven by our inability to understand a simple fundamental law of physics, which is equally relevant to our thinking and mind:

A force always attracts a counter force.

In physics, a force always attracts a counter force, this is a basic law in nature, and we need to understand it beyond its physical application. When we talk about a “Great Reset”, a “Great Reject” forms. When information is debated, but the debate outcome tends to lead into the same corner over a prolonged period, a “Truth Engine” appears. When people are discriminated against, they will find ways to make the situation work for them. Sadly, neither of these foster inclusiveness or unity. All they do is increase our egos powered by whatever force we currently oppose, no matter which side we think we’re on.

Perhaps we should instead focus on developing a collective consciousness which allows for more contrarian views, or even purposefully invite them for discussion. I believe one way to measure a society’s intellectual maturity is how well it deals with a wide range of opinions that are not just formed on the bases of uniformity, but on actually celebrating unity in diversity. “Informed consent” is an underlying value in such a society, but some are even questioning whether we’re still following that principle.

Uniformity is the Enemy of Diversity.

The Solution?

This is a hard question, because division starts in the mind and our definition of diversity (gender, religion, culture, age, color etc.) is quite limited. Today we don’t include future parameters such as human vs artificial intelligence or biological vs technological bodies, let alone the outrageous idea of alien species as pictured in the Valerian movie.

In fact, putting any form of transhumanism in the diversity picture would raise questions as simple as should we be “humanizing technology” or “technologizing humans”, or perhaps, both?

Sure, the combination between hard (data driven) algorithms and soft (human driven) experiences, combined with randomism (machines) and 6th sense (humans) could yield promising results leading to a collective evolution. But without the genuine desire to grow our inner values at least as strong as developing our outer technological (and space) capabilities, any advancements are likely to be temporary. We could easily repeat failures of our past and possibly fail the future altogether.

Real diversity, therefore, needs an upgrade in our minds and hearts. By talking to children and understanding how they see the world around them, our hearts can find the innocence required to make such much needed progress. And to upgrade our minds, all we’d have to do is picturing ourselves already being part of a multi-dimensional and multi-system species, looking beyond the human-machine divide and re-visiting our approach to information, and in light of that, courageously taking up discussions with each other on topics we know we disagree on.

After all, people will still be people, even if humans aren't human any more.