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The binary trap
One of the toughest obstacles to a good understanding of the world and the people in it is our propensity for to binary thinking. What if we all tried to do a bit less of that?
The 20th-century writer and activist Upton Sinclair is known for remarking that “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” If only that were the problem. Technology investor Paul Graham offered a more apposite variant in a recent tweet, “It is even more difficult to get a man to understand something when his identity depends on his not understanding it.” His observation captures that it is not so much the material consequences, but the threat to our deepest being that actively interferes with our willingness to process certain information. When confronted with ideas that challenge our beliefs, we often don’t just disagree. We refuse to engage. At the root is our tendency to sort the world into distinct categories — good and bad, friend and foe, right and wrong. This binary thinking feels safe and clear, but it shields us from the nuances that can help us better navigate the true complexities of the world.
