In November 2022, we passed the symbolic milestone of 8 billion inhabitants on Earth. This figure is a reminder that so many individualities and mentalities live side by side on the same planet.
Our thoughts don't come from nowhere. Customs, politics, societal structure, environment, socio-economic milieu and many other elements will influence those who grow up there. Some will embrace the values and ideas shared by the family and community, while others will reject them outright. Nevertheless, it is always in reaction to these influences that our thinking is forged.
Everyone will perceive their own vision as the one that makes the most sense... until one day it is confronted by that of others.
Whether in debates, on the Internet or while traveling, it's usually this revelation that what seems most obvious to us is not shared by other cultures or fellow citizens from other backgrounds. This confrontation can lead to two types of reaction: total rejection or open-mindedness.
In an ideal world, the second response would be the most common. It's the one that brings us the most. We are then obliged to analyze and exchange with those who do not perceive things as we do. In the age of networks, however, it's all too easy to shut ourselves away in thought bubbles, to avoid being exposed to the other's point of view. Hence the importance of the school environment in making learners' thinking more flexible. They need to be exposed to other ways of thinking, both in problem-solving and in the debates and issues affecting their society.
To achieve this, we need to take them out of their comfort zones by exposing them to culture, the arts, science and travel of all kinds. This exposure is as beneficial to humans as it is to artificial intelligence. As the latter take on an ever-greater role in our lives, it seems necessary to introduce them to humanistic approaches, among others, so that they don't reproduce the stigmatizing patterns that still exist. Google Images started showing something other than white women when the query "woman" was entered, when the algorithm realized that the world's female representatives were diverse.
The warm season is a perfect time to get out and meet living species, people, cultures and heterogeneous traditions. Diving into the world can only be salutary for a better understanding of the world and for food for thought.
Happy reading!
Alexandre Roberge - [email protected]
Image: Gerd Altmann / Pixabay
