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#understanding

5 posts5 participants0 posts today

"Bumper sticker explanations of complicated issues are usually wildly inaccurate!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

There are a lot of people with instant insight on everything and yet who are experts at nothing.

Isn't that the way it goes?

If you spend any time talking with anyone today, it would seem that they are suddenly experts on tariffs and their impact on regional, national, and local economies. Everyone is offering up concise statements of what it means, where it will go, and what will happen. I prefer to listen to global trade experts and economists - folks who are trained in this stuff. In the same way, I'd rather listen to a PhD in vaccine medicine than some quack who gets his information off an obscure conspiracy theorist's Website.

That's why ideas like "trickle-down economics will work" statements are always such a false promise. The notion that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations automatically benefit everyone has been repeatedly challenged by economic research showing limited "trickle-down" effects and increasing wealth inequality. And yet the bumper sticker wisdom lives on.

Why does this happen?

"Bumper sticker" phrases - catchy one-liners about complex issues - sacrifice accuracy for memorability. They fail to address the multiple perspectives, historical context, systemic factors, competing values, and technical details that complex problems involve. They often aren't based on much more than opinions.

The fact is, oversimplifying leads to:

- Overlooking cause-effect complexities

- Creating false either/or scenarios

- Substituting emotion for analysis

- Reinforcing existing beliefs

Good leaders know when simplicity works and when issues demand a deeper explanation. They engage with complexity and guide others through it thoughtfully. They also know that while bumper-sticker wisdom can be popular, it causes more problems than good.

Ironically, my statement about bumper stickers is itself a bumper sticker - though one that points out its limitations!

Perhaps we need simple reminders to look beyond simplicity.
**#Complexity** **#Nuance** **#Understanding** **#Context** **#Depth** **#Oversimplification** **#Analysis** **#Thinking** **#Perspective** **#Knowledge**

Futurist Jim Carroll is willing to admit that perhaps many of his Daily Inspiration posts contain bumper-sticker wisdom. He lives and owns the contradiction.

Original post: jimcarroll.com/2025/04/decodin

A quotation from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I don’t particularly care about the usual. If you want to get an idea of a friend’s temperament, ethics, and personal elegance, you need to look at him under the tests of severe circumstances, not under the regular rosy glow of daily life. Can you assess the danger a criminal poses by examining only what he does on an ordinary day? Can we understand health without considering wild diseases and epidemics? Indeed the normal is often irrelevant.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Black Swan, Introduction (2007)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/taleb-nassim-nichola…

#queer
#Learning about different #IdentityLabels is more than just discovering a #category of #people who are "out there" somewhere. It is that, and that is important as well, for appreciating the vast and intricate #diversity of our species and for holding #solidarity in #liberation struggles. But it's also about #understanding new lenses to view our own selves and #experiences through, and how new #concepts #apply or don't in our own #lives. That's #subversive to #cisheteronormativity.

"Compassion can outshine the chaos!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Every day, I start with my image and quote, and then write my post. Today, I started with this image and quote:

“Grant me the ability to avoid the stress, rage & anxiety over things I cannot control, the courage to change the things I can, & the wisdom to know the difference!”

Then I noticed that what I wrote about - leadership empathy - had nothing to do with the original quote! So I changed it! I still like this version of the Serenity Prayer though!

Anyways ... to my original point. Have you noticed that a lot of people seem to be asking one another, pretty regularly: "How are you doing with all this stuff?" I need not explain the "stuff" - suffice it to say, there's volatility, upheaval, uncertainty, disruption, polarization, confusion, destabilization, turmoil, chaos - all of which is quite dystopian.

Aside from providing you with a comprehensive list of disquieting nouns, the fact is a lot of people are feeling discomfort, but are also expressing concern about those around them. At least the ones who have a soul left within their inner core.

Look, I'm from the old school that believes that human kindness is an important personal trait - perhaps one of the most important. I also know that in this current male-machismo-driven world of rage and revenge, there are simply some folks who will never understand that. I don't have any expectations that folks like that follow my writings here.

But maybe the rest of us can work on it a bit more. After all, it matters. Lots of folks might have been having a rough day, and a little expression of empathy can go a long way.

How can we do that? Here are the key elements of what is known as 'leadership empathy', and how to practice them!
.... read the full post.

----

Futurist Jim Carroll would like to hear how you are doing. He might be able to offer up a comforting thought or two.

#Empathy #Resilience #Control #Wisdom #Leadership #Understanding #Perspective #Connection #Mindfulness #Growth

Original post: jimcarroll.com/2025/03/compass

Fluvial System Block Diagrams
--
I was looking to understand a fluvial system the other day, up in the high Arctic, as I looked at 3DEP remote sensed elevation data… I have always been fascinated by the how geology, water, weather shapes a landscape, including erosion (aka geomorphology if you will) – and realized how very much value fluvial block diagrams have as we try to conceptualise what has, is and will happen(ed.)
#spatial #spatiotemporal #morphology #meander #levee #understanding #oxbow #pointbar #river #water #hydrology #landform #geomorphology #geomorphometry #geology #fluvial #riverine #weather #climate #erosion #sediment #sedimentation #Arctic #3dep #opendata #DEM #BeringSea #northslope #opendata #fedservice

* * https://idavox.com/index.php/category/news/
* did time for attacking nazi skins : https://www.youtube.com/@DiabloTV
do search what a berserker is tho' - not for the timid.

* https://www.youtube.com/@OnePeoplesProjecttv/videos
* https://www.taskforcebutler.org
* IMHO atheism a uniting ' thing believe it or not no pun ' science n ' all.. * court battles galore: https://www.atheists.org/news/
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Rifle_Association#Points_of_unity

#lgbtq #community #peace through #knowledge #wisdom #understanding #unity #fun

A quotation from Montaigne

We readily inquire, “Does he know Greek or Latin?” “Can he write poetry and prose?” But what matters most is what we put last: “Has he become better and wiser?” We ought to find out not who understands most but who understands best. We work merely to fill the memory, leaving the understanding and the sense of right and wrong empty.
 
[Nous enquerons volontiers, Sçait-il du Grec ou du Latin ? escrit-il en vers ou en prose ? mais, s’il est devenu meilleur ou plus advisé, c’estoit le principal, & c’est ce qui demeure derriere. Il falloit s’enquerir qui est mieux sçavant, non qui est plus sçavant. Nous ne travaillons qu’à remplir la memoire, & laissons l’entendement & la conscience vuide.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essay (yyyy), “Of Pedantry[Du pedantisme] (1572-1578), Essays, Book 1, ch. 24 (1.24) (1595) [tr. Screech (1987), ch. 25]

Sourcing, notes, alternate translations: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…