Does society prefer 'Dumb & Rich' to 'Wise & Poor?'

in #questions3 years ago

Crypto, covid, social media and many other issues society is dealing with lately could do with clearer minds in my opinion. We could use more heartfelt critical thought and a bit less groupthink, as far as I can tell.

So I made a guide to being smarter this weekend, with the aim of helping to further that cause. And though it's so far received less attention than my previous two guides, I'm still quite proud of how it tackles a topic most people avoid (intelligence), in a conversational way.

I pulled out the following doodle from the guide because I felt it was particularly relevant what with 'the market' responding to every other tweet Elon Musk makes and so on.

070_Rich_Vs_Smart.png

Now, I don't know Elon personally, and I'm careful to reserve judgment on people as much as possible until I'm able to get 'their side of things' straight from the horses mouth. I prefer to read people's energy and body language, if possible. I prefer to have as much understanding of them as a person before I come to any major conclusions.

Which means I don't write him off as crazy, nor do I write off his (impressive) achievements or his unique perspective.

All that said, there's an observable trend of many individuals paying far more attention to whichever charming celeb is in the public eye than they do to other 'truly wise' people who may be in their awareness.

And I get it. It's much easier to attend to the obvious, than it is to hunt for a needle hiding in a haystack. I might have incredible insights the world could benefit from, but if I'm not on a soapbox, platform, or stage, I'm certainly not making those insights obvious to others.

So although the doodle I made makes an interesting point, it oversimplifies the situation. The people lining up to listen to the rich guy's less-than-accurate ideas aren't seeing two equal booths and signs, they're actually seeing a giant stage with a megaphone next to a mime silently trying to convey a message.

Hopefully what I've written here shows that things are a bit more nuanced than 'dumb & rich' vs 'wise & poor', or even 'inaccurate & famous' vs 'spot-on & obscure', but the whole thing may get you thinking. It does spark questions in my mind, anyway.

So I'm curious... when someone has wisdom, insight, or helpful conversation to offer society, do you think people should recognize it and elevate them? Do you think it's the speaker's responsibility to build their own platform and make their value 'obvious enough' to compete with the megaphone? Do you think it's a blend of the two? And do you think society is missing out on important voices and ideas while they chase inaccurate (albeit accomplished) influencers? Do you think it's even possible to tell a truly 'smart' advisor from an empty talking head?

I'd love to hear perspectives on this from bright folks such as: @nonameslefttouse @meesterboom @dandays @crosheille @antisocialist @steevc @atma.love @cynshineonline @brutalisti @keco @mynima @thoughts-in-time @nickyhavey @mattclarke @nevies @starstrings01 @chuckrick @barge @finguru @nioberojas @riverflows @minismallholding - any thoughts?

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Elon Musk said Tesla would accept bitcoin, for instance. Society, technically, didn't listen to him. They filled in the blanks and imagined what that could mean for Bitcoin. They made it a big thing. They turned it into something that got attention.

For some reason they thought it would create new demand for the token, which in turn would drive the value up. I watched many celebrate the results from imagination land. But nobody interested in buying a car is going to buy bitcoin first in order to get that car. That step wouldn't be necessary. The consumer will just get straight to the point. Maybe people who own Bitcoin can use it to buy a car, but it doesn't bring any new money in. Elon was simply tapping into a market. Similar to how one would offer their product in a new country and accept their currency. The potential people were celebrating was just the simple act of money exchanging hands but they saw it as something bigger. It's not the big platform with the big talker that made the noise. It was all the people surrounding it, and they were the ones that listened to one another.

He said he wouldn't dump the tokens gained from car sales, for instance. The people then filled in the blanks thinking in general there will be tremendous buy pressure created by interested consumers outside the cryptosphere, and very little sell pressure in relation. But Elon didn't say any of that. He also didn't say he wouldn't sell the bitcoin he already owned on the side, separate from what he was doing with car sales. That's how geniuses operate.

Sure, he's a famous dude and sure people will listen, but what did he actually say? Not much. Nothing to be excited about. Then he turns around and realizes bitcoin uses up a lot of juice. So he doesn't agree with that. He overlooked that part and maybe it goes against his beliefs. Well now the people are mad. He didn't lie before, he's not lying again. People are once again filling in the blanks. Now they suddenly think what they thought they had (which didn't exist) is now gone.

Now, locally, I can show you several examples here where a new development or new offering creates buzz. I can show you several examples where the people are left feeling disappointed in that new development or new offering, because it didn't turn out how they thought it would or something went wrong. What created those thoughts? Those behind the new development or new offering didn't make any promises. They just said, "Here it is." The people interested created what it means, believed every word they told themselves, and got excited when others agreed and shared the same view. They're in it together, there's a sense of belonging. What could possibly go wrong.

The outsider knows you walk into that mess, you'll get stung. Like walking into a prison and yelling, "What's up, bitches!"

Ahhh... all very reasonable and insightful. I agree with you.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used Elon as an example then. 🤔 Because although you've provided an excellent explanation of how the masses extrapolated whatever they wanted and then got upset at their imagining's failure to occur as expected...

Your explanation is more about a related issue (perhaps equally important). It doesn't really address the observable trend of 'loud influencers' spouting (often extremely) inaccurate data and having it being taken as gospel. As well, there does exist people with eye-opening, beneficial perspectives (yourself, for example) who go unheard/unnoticed. That stuff does still happen and it's what I was primarily seeking clarity on.

Still, I got a masterclass in how herd-mentality and groupthink operates when presented with fairly innocuous statements. Thanks man :) 😁

If I was a band I'd be, The Nobody Special.

I could play some damn good tunes and it's difficult to find people who don't like it. Playing loud as fuck, but the sound only travels so far. If I want more people to hear, I need to do something about that. But even the best have to grind their way to that stadium.

I finally get there, only to discover I've become that song on the radio people are sick of hearing.

"Why do people even listen to that douchebag."

That name's already being used.

But why do they listen to that douchebag? Because that was one of the options available.

Meanwhile, people are still listening to the underground. Quite a few. But it doesn't create the same illusion as what's popular.

J-Ryze is wondering why so many seem to be guided by idiocy. I wonder the same thing too, at times. Yet I haven't forgotten, most people hated that popular kid in school.

We're easily manipulated, it doesn't take much. Shit, you and I speak different, for example. You're so programmable. Someone like Elon Musk could say an astroid's headed for earth and people will panic. Hopefully not too many but I wouldn't be surprised..

Shitty part is Musk and all them know how easily we're manipulated. Turns to a game for everyone who ain't a game piece.

You checked out any links that Berwick account is attaching?

Musk said something.

  • Trusted news outlets pick it up and run with it with a twist or their own take, people hear it there
  • People looking to make a quick buck spin the article and post it here, people hear it from them
  • Comment section lights up. Others chime in and their views are read, supported

Who listened to who? By the time it gets to the end of the line, a whole new story takes shape. Then that gets published and cycles down. This goes on and on.

Now let's take Musk and that situation out of the picture but keep the same pattern. Notice how the same damn thing happens with anyone else and what they say. Now apply how society is herded into echo chambers online. The arguments exist, you just don't see them, so it creates this illusion everyone is in support of an idiot. When you see people you trust on social media supporting something, maybe you don't trust the information but you trust your friend or family member so the info is trusted by default. When it gets that far down the line, it becomes difficult because you don't want to tell your friends off in this day and age. One click of the button and you're out of their life forever. So that kind of shit plays a role too.

It's probably an unpopular opinion, but I think those at the top have very little to do with what happens. I think the people straight up do it to themselves, then refuse to blame themselves, because it's easier to blame the big name at the top who can't even hear you. Those at the top roll with the punches and make adjustments on the fly. Everyone makes it really easy to stay one step ahead.

Fear. Fear of being seen as the outsider. Fear of being seen as a conspiracy theorist. Fear of being seen as a racist. Fear of being seen as an anti-vaxxer. Fear of being seen as a Democrat. Fear of being seen as a Republican.

People are making far too many decisions based purely around fear these days.

That actually tells us that we are becoming a globe that has a growing number of cowards.

Brave doesn't mean without fear. It simply means facing and moving forward in spite of our fear.

Yet fear is clearly dominating...

Perhaps the biggest one... Fear of being wrong.

We've been conditioned to think being wrong is a bad thing. Something to admit. Something to avoid at all costs.

Yet really it is one of two ways I know of for us to learn. If you are wrong you have an opportunity to learn from it. It only becomes a bad thing if you don't learn from it and keep making the same mistakes.

The other way is when we are ignorant about things. All of us are ignorant about far more things than we likely know. This is not bad. We are ignorant about the things we don't know. When we learn new things we have removed some of the ignorance.

Learning from mistakes...
Learning new things...

Yet we've been conditioned to fear mistakes and also do everything we can to seek scapegoats and avoid admitting them.

It's a new kind of fear. Amplified. Fear on steroids. Yet there's no danger. The natural state of mind might be struggling, not even knowing where to place this stuff.

I think maybe people feel like they're being watched.

If you and I were sitting at a table in a bar, with a few others, discussing whatever, I'm wrong, you correct me, maybe I'm a little bit embarrassed, but the moment is already in the past. Live and learn. Easy to navigate. Worked for thousands of years.

So now we're on this grand stage social media style.

Same scenario, I'm wrong, you correct me, but my mistake was published, and I just spent the past ten years creating the illusion of perfection then tricking myself into thinking my friends/family/followers/whatever actually believe it because all they ever do is say nice things, while I make damn sure to never share photos of my junk drawer or that time I thought it would just be a fart.

So now, not only did everyone in the bar witness my mistake, but all the people coming and going well off into the future are going to know, as if this instance of failure was posted on the door. Whereas before, when it comes to those people, all I really had to worry about was my hygiene, knowing full well they'd never see or smell me again and if they did, my appearance is all they'd remember.

OMG I'm having a panic attack. I should have thought of all these consequences before I opened my big mouth.

Stage fright. Luckily, humanity to the rescue! Groups are formed around ideas. Stupid ideas. Smart ideas. All ideas. A safe space for everything and everyone including the folks who mock safe spaces.

Someone waltzes in to offer a correction, and the entire bar swarms them. "There will be none of that here."

Fear naturally converts itself to anger if there's no danger involved. People are putting on a show. Protected by like minds. Even something as simple as a question is converted into an insult. How is it even possible to not know what comes so naturally to us.

So I'm discovering there's a fear of being wrong combined with an illusion of being right, all while one's livelihood could be on the line if they change their position. And I can't think of one cult member in the history of cults that actually knew they were in a cult, so I'm not even sure where to begin with this.

A great example of how people over think, hear what they want to hear and blame others when things don't turn out as they'd hoped.

!ENGAGE 30

Hear hear! 😉

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Thanks for leaving me a ticket at will call dude. I almost went to the other show about dude who gets disappointed over content values between one and the next so he compares himself to Elon Musk.

Problem with that is genre. Comedy won't work, Musk used all his funny to make friends, now it looks like he wants to be taken seriously so I'd file it under docography.

I saw a good docography recently about a fantasy world where everyone who is not a leader follows the right leader. Shit was cræzy!!!!!!! Followers are supposed to outnumber leaders, no Scorsese there, the twist is when no one follows a douche bag.

Speaking of Doge, I'm pretty fuckin upset about the whole thing myself. When two people I've known forever who know zero about cryptocurrency and I know they know zero about cryptocurrency ring me within hours of each other telling me about their Dodge portfolio and how "Elon's going to be on Saturday Night Live! Dogie to the moon!" Instead of teaching them how to spLeL Doge and asking since when did they have Elon Musk on a first name basis, I shoulda sold!! But N҉o҉0҉o҉O҉O҉0҉o҉o҉ I waited til 49k instead and now I got everyone thinkin I'm a pissed off blogger. Those are the worst!

Cut!

My pleasure man, always a ticket for ya. :)

That other show does sound pretty baller, maybe it's worth checking out? :P

Comedy-turned-docography, indeed.

And duuuude, hook me up with the name of that show... zero douche-following? I'd pay to watch that :)

Hey man, I don't know about you, but it sounds like you dodged a bullet... I imagine your teachings would have fallen on deaf ears. 😁

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You know, these days it has been hard for me to figure out who are the really wise ones. Yes, I can tell you who are the elites spreading misinformation. But then there have been some who I thought were wise, but their words of hope and future promises never came true. I never saw the promises of indictments, people going to jail, the Durham report, consequences for crimes against humanity, etc. I thought some of these people would build up their own platform and I would elevate their voice and help them spread their truths and message of a future hope. But for some reason I feel so disappointed. Are their truth tellers out there? Yes I think there are, but their message is "downvoted" in the real world so much that those who believe in their message are labeled and ignored. I try not to be to cynical and hope one day I'll be pleasantly surprised when the truth is revealed.

The reality is that most of the people in high places are untouchable and they made the rules for courts, indictments and the like for their own benefits. So playing them at their own game when they can change the rules at any point is never actually going to get the results you hope for.

We can celebrate a victory like when Blair and Bush were found guilty of war crimes in one country, but if the country they're in does nothing about that, it makes no difference. They just can't visit the country where they're a criminal and why would they anyway?

We've been complaining about tyranny for hundreds of years. Why would we expect human nature to change now?

!ENGAGE 15

You've outlined very much what I've been thinking about. That the line between truth & 'misinformation' seems to be blurring more and more lately. But is that true, or is it just appearances? A phase? Who knows.

If I were to 'build up a platform', would people rally behind the my beliefs, views, and contributions? Or would I end up like the ones you've summarized?

Society 'downvoting' truth-tellers (& their supporters) IRL, a very interesting perspective indeed.

Thank you for your insights on this, good sir. Very appreciated, and more thinking for me. 🙏

Hey wassup dude? Very well said. Thanks for joining in on this one. Equally important, welcome to Hive!

Consider giving any of the names Ryze mentioned a follow, any would appreciate this type of engagement. I see you're only a couple weeks in, is this your thing or do you plan on releasing content as well?

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I am honoured to be in the list you have mentioned.

Do you think people should recognize it and elevate them?

The truth, if someone has a lot of wisdom and knowledge, it is not enough for it to get all the attention. Not everyone actually appreciate true knowledge.

Do you think it's the speaker's responsibility to build their own platform and make their value 'obvious enough' to compete with the megaphone?

Yeah, I think so. The speaker needs to build his audience. People who would get to recognise the quality of the info he is giving. Most people nowadays are interested in something that would be of benefits to them but many are focused on the financial aspect that's why one needs to learn how to present his knowledge to the right set of people and making them understand how it would solve their problem.

And do you think society is missing out on important voices and ideas while they chase inaccurate (albeit accomplished) influencers?

Yeah, I think so because most of these voices and ideas don't always get around to the ears of everyone, only mostly to those who are particularly in search for that kind of information.

Do you think it's even possible to tell a truly 'smart' advisor from an empty talking head?

Hmmm. That, I don't really know. It depends on how sensible the person relays the information. Many people may not take a smart advice sensible if they don't understand or get the sense in it. It both depends on the person giving the information and how the person receiving the info should decode it.

Hope I answered your questions. This is just what I think.

My pleasure! You left thoughtful comments on my other post, so I figured you may have more. :)

You make a good point about appreciation vs. attention. Hmm.

Platform and audience-building makes sense. But often society's wisest aren't good at it. Would you say it's a skill one can learn?

And if most people aren't seeking it, then those voices shall remain unknown/unheard, right?

Yes, it definitely depends on the relay-er of the information, as well as the receiver. Well said.

Thanks for your interesting answers on this topic! 🙏

Yeah, definitely, it is a skill one can learn. Every influencer started from a point of none to little audience. In building up your platform and getting those audience, it is something that takes steady growth. Sometimes, frustrating times would come as if there aren't progress but there is.

The best audience you can get and begin with are those closer to you and those who you can easily reach out to that may see value to what you share. They are those who would tell others more about your info, your platform and definitely/hopefully from there, the number of audience begin to increase.

This is never an easy thing to do. One may have gone through a lot before attaining that audience required but all I know is consistency and perseverance is what is needed to do this.

I agree it's learnable. Interestingly, it seems that many of the 'wisest leaders' are uninterested in learning this important platform-building skill. Hmm.

I rely on @cynshineonline to build our platform and attract the audience for the most part, because I understand that it's not really my passion. :)

And you're right, any time she allows her consistency or perseverance to be discouraged, progress slows.

Thanks for all the insight! 👍

I agree it's learnable. Interestingly, it seems that many of the 'wisest leaders' are uninterested in learning this important platform-building skill. Hmm.

This may well be because the wisest leaders know that silence is the best teaching (if the "teacher" is really wise). Words can never express ultimate truth, but they can point the way, and can be helpful to begin with for those who are unable to sit in silence and receive the inner truth.

Very good perspective. It may well be so.

those who are unable to sit in silence and receive the inner truth.

That appears to be the majority of our society, so if one wishes to teach without words, I imagine one will be teaching very few humans. Food for thought. 🤔

Thanks again for the insights.

Ramana Maharshi used to teach in silence for many years i believe. Out of compassion for those who were unable to receive, he chose to speak sometimes. Many years after his physical death he continues to teach in silence, and many thousands continue to flock to the ashram in Tiruvanamalai where he spent most of his life.

❤️❤️❤️

I think too many people would rather be part of the sheeple and don't care to elevate intelligence. They'd rather go with what's "cool" or "trending". How many people bought Doge because Elon gave it his approval? How many of them even knew what it was before Elon tweeted about it? Probably not many.

I think it's the speaker's responsibility to make their value obvious enough ONLY because society cares far more for the megaphone. So what else can they do? Either be controversial for attention, be louder to be seen or be content with miming their message forever. I for one am tired of being the mime. I will take controversy and use it in my favor. I refuse to sit by and allow the megaphone to take over and let the world think they know all when they mostly don't know shit. (I know that's not true about all of them but most).

Society is DEFINITELY missing out on important voices and ideas. For example, Yours and mine. However, we are doing things to make ours known. But what about the genius mechanic who refuses to give in and stays off social media and no one hears about his incredible ideas because he won't take the time to build his platform or be controversial to the world? Or the child labeled as "weird" that everyone ignores and who becomes a "jobber" out of fear that he will continue being called weird for sharing his amazing thoughts and ideas.

It happens all the time. I for one am over it and the more people I meet like this the more I want to lift them up. It's part of why I want to meet those 8 billion people. I KNOW there's more out there like you. And if we can help each other ryze up then we can be louder than the megaphones, together. #TogetherWeRyze

oh and it's totally obvious to tell a truly smart advisor from an empty talking head. IF someone is listening. I intend to bring them in for the boobs and have them stay for the brains (Yours and mine). And...a 2-minute conversation with You is all the proof they would need.

~Love, Cyn

Hmm. Interesting. 'Fitting in with others' could definitely be a factor that affects who seeks out wisdom from whom.

Yes, that's a good point, if everyone is creating a sea of noise, there's very little option left other than be brighter/louder.

You're right, it does indeed happen, I often cite Van Gogh here.

It may be obvious to you, but many people buy into an influencer's fluff or inaccuracies, so I wonder just how obvious these things are in the end.

Lots to consider here, thanks for adding your thoughts.

#TogetherWeRyze ! 🙏

yes Van Gogh. it's true. He was one of the mimes.

People buy into the influencer's fluff because it's pretty and shiny. They're too "average" to think for themselves or research further. Better to go with the flow in their minds than it is to think for themselves lest they too become a mime. I think it's obvious for people who care or people who are "woke" (ugh I'm starting to hate that word but it conveys what I mean the quickest)

Thanks for asking these questions. I hope more and more people give thought to these and decide to lift others up who are more than fluff and have something to actually say.

Con todo mi amor,
k-b

All worthwhile considerations I'd say. It'd be interesting to talk to some of these people, in-depth and at-length, to see if they'd eventually reveal their true, honest, core motivations, but that may require more awareness than they'll possess in this lifetime.

Happy to provoke some thought, and thanks for your contributions to the discussion! :)

Loud Applause. May your voice be heard widely.

We must remember however to always be humble, and in our words to judge the issue / information as opposed to being judgemental of the people themselves. After all, "the people" are actually reflections of aspects of or true self, they are not separate from us, they are, if you like, reflections of our consciousness. To judge another would therefor be to judge ourself.

I find it works best if we follow the three gatekeepers of the mouth:

“The mouth should have three gatekeepers. Is it true? Is it kind? And is it necessary?”
― Arab proverb

Namaste
Atma

I'm honored and appreciative. Thank you.

Yes, in my younger years I was hyper-judgmental of people, rather than information, and it brought me misery. As I've grown, embraced increased acceptance, and see others as aspects of self, my life has become drastically improved.

Wonderful proverb. I aim for truth, kindness, and necessity in all I communicate, as much as possible. How effective am I at this? I guess time will tell :D

Thanks again, namaste! 🙏

I agree. I do not judge. I prefer to let people be. Though I am not perfect and have judged in the past. People are able to do their own thing and I do mine. When we judge another we're just showing what we don't like about ourselves.

interesting proverb. thank you for sharing it with me.

Namaste
❤️

Yo Mr J-Ryze! Thanks for tag, I'll just apply some of my thoughts on this, I am but one guy on the internet though!

I think the issue is a multi-layered one that taps in to many aspects such as:

  • culture (online and offline),
  • people like to either follow vs being followers themselves,
  • humans being hardwired to find shortcuts,
  • previous biases/beliefs leading to gravitating towards those of similar mindset
  • looking for a place of belonging...

The list really does go on but when you have the perfect blend of all these aspects being channeled into an "influencer" then it's going to have profound effects whenever they start tweeting or sharing content. Will followers blindly follow what that person will say? Will they apply their own take on what was said?

It is only until the follower's core belief for the reason to follow is broken for one reason that they will likely start to move elsewhere. Whether they have the capability to adopt critical and open thinking to form more rounded view points to a discussion varies from individual to individual. Or they may look for shortcuts or sense of belonging or something else.

For a challenger/speaker to come in, as outlined in Robert Caldini's book "Persuasion", they will need to be likeable, be an authority and word needs to get out they exist - there are 3 other aspects to make someone/something influential such as scarcity, reciprocity and consistency.

So if the challenger can do all this with integrity then they may be able to make an impact but trying to fight fire with fire, or megaphone to megaphone, is not the way to do it in my opinion. The challenger will need to offer something different and not play the same games.

Either way, if you are going to invest in one of the highest risk asset classes going purely because of what you read on twitter or from someone' tweeting habits, you will have an "interesting adventure" 😃

I personally believe actions speak louder than words so I always look at what these companies/influencers are doing, how they are doing it and why. It's easy to say one thing online and then be doing the opposite (e.g. OG investors and banks saying "Bitcoin is terrible", yet, they've been buying it and holding it for years)!

Anyway, don't know if I answered any of your questions, I just went off lol

Woo! Epic reply here bro!

I love your assessment of the key layers involved: (culture, 'follower-avoidance', shortcut-focus, biases, need for belonging, etc.) all channeled into an influencer.

I see this as a 'perfect storm' take on it. Bravo.

As well you do a great job of addressing the myriad of reasons a person might 'hop' from one influencer to another, all while referencing Cialdini, lol.

Either way, if you are going to invest in one of the highest risk asset classes going purely because of what you read on twitter or from someone' tweeting habits, you will have an "interesting adventure" 😃

HAHAHA, love it. So true.

I also believe actions trump words, and I feel you added a lot to the discussion with your 'going off.'

Thanks man! 🙏

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We seem to have a celebrity culture on social media that values 'fame' over actual credibility. Not that everyone will listen to the big names. I follow very few of the biggest accounts on any platform. I go for what is interesting, but I may be in a minority.

I just see little attraction in pure attention-seekers.

Musk likes the attention he gets by being controversial. I do wonder what really big investors think of his stunts as they care about what happens to their money.

Fame is temporary, smarts are for life.

That does appear to be the case. I wonder if it was like this in ancient Rome. Gladiator arenas for entertainment, bread and circuses, etc.?

I'd say go for what's actually interesting to you is a pretty solid approach, but is that any different from what the majority are doing? (ie: "Elon is interesting, so that's who I'll attend to" ?)

Yes, I'm curious about the same thing.

Interesting last line in your comment there, thanks for the food for thought. I'll continue thinking on it. 🙏

Musk is sensational, but I've not seen him saying much that is interesting to me, so I don't follow him. His companies are doing cool stuff though.

I have read some articles about 'influencers' who get stressed out by having to continuously produce content to satisfy their fans. They may lose some if they need a break. I'm a long way from that sort of fame and quite happy where I am.

!ENGAGE 20

Seems like a good summary of it all, well said.

Allowing 'fear of loss' (whether of fans or something else), is certainly a stressor for many people, but one that I'm not sure is necessary. I can't imagine the world will run out of fans, and taking a break or 'losing' some hopefully doesn't stress people who have built a following out? lol.

:)

I expect this influencer business is very competitive. You need the fans to be able to earn and so losing some could hit your income. I do not follow such people and so it's not too relevant to me.

Anyone can be earning on Hive though.

Sure it hits their income, but they're pretty successful. It's like someone hitting Warren Buffet or Steve Jobs income... not exactly 'panic-worthy', at least for many of them, so I'm not super-clear on the fear of loss.

And yes! That's part of the beauty of Hive!

Does that make everyone an 'influencer' on Hive? :)

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This is cool, thanks @steevc & @misterengagement ! 🙏

The controversy Elon gets is definitely for attention. But I think too many see his word as 'bible' and they blindly follow with whatever he says even if it makes sense or not.

Fame is temporary, smarts are for life.

I couldn't agree more.

❤️

Musk has obviously made some good business decisions, but all this hyping of Dogecoin is stupid.

!BEER

Agreed!!! and thank you ❤️


Hey @cynshineonline, here is a little bit of BEER from @steevc for you. Enjoy it!

Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your BEER.

thanks! I like this kind of beer lol ❤️

The society today has reconstructed a lot of norms .
Money has never being more powerful than in the world today , money revolves the world today and without it there is a lot of restriction to what you can do .
A rich and dumb man will have more listening hears because he obviously has made a little more change in the society than a Smart and poor man , with all the greatest ideas but nothing to show forth for it , than words .
It's a sad fact but that is where we are in the world today .
Also , many people will ask , can a dumb man get rich ? , Why is a bright mind poor ? It's quite an intriguing one . From my point of view , I will say not everyone gets the opportunity and grace to be financially stable . well I will love to get your answers to this questions below .

"What good is wisdom if it can't yield profit to the owner"

Money definitely plays a pivotal role (though it appears to be evolving in part due to crypto).

Good point about more change vs. nothing to show for it.

I like your questions, they are intriguing indeed. It may be a matter of opportunity.

One might argue that wisdom always yields profit, just not necessary financially?

Food for thought, thanks for an interesting comment! 😀🙏

@ryzeonline
The truth is, society actually prefers dumb and rich to smart and poor. You made a great point about obscurity and exposure but the truth is even in small settings where the ideas of the rich and the ideas of the poor are presented with the same amount of exposure the rich wins most of the time irrespective of the dumbness of their ideas.

The small settings I'm talking about are like groups. Small groups like PTA meetings, neighborhood meetings, church meetings, school meetings and the like. In small groups like these where people just stand up during a meeting and air their opinions equally the opinions of the rich is usually more popular. The reason is because most people are mostly emotional rather than rational. Most people are convinced more by emotions than they are by reason. A rich man is in a great position so the emotions he invokes in people is respect, admiration and a level of trust that this man actually knows what he's doing and he usually gets things right, why not, can't you see he's rich? Can't you see his position?

All these emotions lead people to lean more towards the opinions of rich people. When a rich man opines, people are moved by all the favourable feelings the have towards him and the logicality of his opinion is only left to play a smaller role; many don't even realize why they react this way to rich people's opinions, it happens in the subconscious.

Meanwhile the ideas of poorer people come with the opposite of these emotions which means it comes with negative emotions like disrespect, disgust in some cases, etc. If it doesn't come with all these negative emotions at least it comes with a lack of the emotional appeal richer folks have and so the bulk of the convincing is left for the logicality of their opinions to do and most people like I said earlier are just not good with understanding and following logic.

This is an excellent contribution. I neglected to discuss the power of emotion to affect judgment, as well as society's general lack of skill in emotion-management.

I've talked about how making decisions while emotional can be extremely unproductive with @cynshineonline , and I'm shocked I didn't cover it more in my original post on intelligence, so I'm very glad you emphasized it here.

Fantastic point about 'position' affecting things as well, @nevies , and I really appreciate you adding that to the discussion.

Thanks again! 🙏

Oh, it's all good. You're welcome, man 😃

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Thank you so much! 👍

Congrats and your latest posting, Ryze! I particularly enjoyed the highlighting of the three qualities that help us to realize our inner genius. Valuing focus, combined with taking care of our beliefs and elevating one's mood, is undoubtedly instrumental in accessing our highest potential! One particularly terrible aspect of today's society is how the public education system gets focused on outcome-based education, as opposed to the inquiry-based learning model. [continued at..]

Thanks @thoughts-in-time , appreciated!

Yes, I'm so glad you zeroed in on those 3 qualities. They're insanely powerful and easy to leverage, I'd love to see more people tapping into them.

And very cool and creative way to transition this comment over to the other post! See you there! 🙏

I don't tend to follow main stream, so this is the first I'm really hearing of Elon Musk and his crypto talk. Heck, he could be just playing around with his spotlight and seeing how far he can push things and have people still listen to what he's saying. Everyone's after an easy get rich quick formula and Musk has done well for himself, so he must know, after all. 😉

We hear what we want to hear, so even if the wise ones were on just as big a platform, if what they're saying seems like had work, or less certain, we'll take the one offering the easy path. Wisdom is usually reality and reality never seems as nice as being told what you want to hear. So quite often it's us as the audience who makes certain voices louder than others.

Fair enough. And you have a point, he could indeed be 'playing with his spotlight.' And yes, Musk has done quite well for himself by most standards. :)

Your last paragraph is extremely poignant on this topic I'd say. We could have a world full of wise men absolutely blaring the truth at us, and many of us would still choose to hear the one snake-oil salesman off in the wings, whispering things we want to hear, rather than face reality.

Very interesting, thank you. 🙏

... when someone has wisdom, insight, or helpful conversation to offer society, do you think people should recognize it and elevate them? Do you think it's the speaker's responsibility to build their own platform and make their value 'obvious enough' to compete with the megaphone? Do you think it's a blend of the two?

This is a very interesting question.

I've tended to the latter over the last 15 years or so since i felt i had something beneficial to share. I slowly built up my Fakebook, Linked In etc. followings by, in the earlier days, sending lots of connection requests and messages. This has become for the more recent years where i am receiving many connection requests but hardly sending any.

For connection requests i receive i accept virtually all and often respond with an pre-written introduction message containing my story and several links to very useful resources re. holistic living and health. I've also made a couple of website. Nowadays i tend much more toward the former but still share a little on Hive.

I've dropped FB (and Whatsapp) as i now choose to withdraw my agreement from using a platform which perpetrates violence through censorship and so called "fact checking" which actually gives false facts.

... do you think society is missing out on important voices and ideas while they chase inaccurate (albeit accomplished) influencers?

For sure!

Do you think it's even possible to tell a truly 'smart' advisor from an empty talking head?

Another good question. Yes i do, and i think it depends on the "level of consciousness" of the person making the judgement as to how well they are able to judge the advisors information. I think that the more we are able to be in the present moment, accepting responsibility for the creation around us, without judgement (of people or circumstances) and the more we know who we really are, then the better will be our ability to judge well the content of the information shared, and therefore of the advisor (at least in the present moment).

Thanks for sharing.

Namaste
Atma

Thank you. And kudos to you on building your platform, and setting up a system to handle connection requests, and on your website(s).

"The writer of these words however, is a character in a dream, of life, of love. He does not remember all the time that 'this life is just a dream, a dream made of love'."

I really enjoyed this line. :)

I agree about missing out on voices, but hopefully society is able to improve this.

Fantastic point regarding 'level of consciousness' as it relates to judgment & discernment of content-quality in the present-moment.

Thanks for contributing to the discussion, namaste! 🙏

Honestly, I think Elon is acting dumb because he is one of the sharpest minds on earth. Maybe he doesn't know too much about crypto and blockchain but he isn't stupid for sure. Most probably he was trying to appease a particular section of the society and got burned in return by Bitcoin Maximalists. It was a good thing to happen.

So I'm curious... when someone has wisdom, insight, or helpful conversation to offer society, do you think people should recognize it and elevate them?

YES! And I also think that the speaker should be responsible for his influence. He has the power to make or break someone's life so it gets risky there.

And do you think society is missing out on important voices and ideas while they chase inaccurate (albeit accomplished) influencers?

Society will always go with the numbers. Elon has so many followers on Twitter and that's why he has the power to move the markets. It's a shame though. We don't learn.

That view does make a lot of sense. What are the chances this man, who has gotten to where he is today, isn't sharp and well-aware of what he's doing?

Well, hopefully society agrees with you and draws more attention to wisdom-speakers, whether platformed or not. Also, good counter-point regarding influencer-responsibility!

Society will always go with the numbers.

This is a peculiar choice, but I do agree with your observation that that is indeed, what society tends to do.

#LetUsLearn :) 🙏

I'll be honest the answer is simple, in my mind atleast. Yes, the world is missing out on individuals who can and do contribute productively because everyone is often too busy gawping at the easy to consume alternatives. The 'why' is the much more difficult thing to answer...
Let me pause for a second to apologise that I've not read your other recent article in full, I will resolve that issue asap. Hopefully the continuation of this answer doesn't repeat something you've already said.
...
The 'why' is the most complex of things, it blends a mixture of human group behaviour, with the way we consume content and what technology has given us. There are many reasons I think that 'quieter' voices often get dismissed or overlooked in favour of influential individuals.

  • It could be as simple as the alternative voice isn't offering an opinion or idea that we already agree with. Social platforms are, to an extent echo chambers for us. We surround ourselves with agreeing opinions so that it becomes difficult to accept alternatives.
  • Another contributing factor could be with how the voicers choose to market their information. Indeed, from your earlier article you tackled the idea of 'selling'. Remember, some people (particularly influencers or social 'icon') are perhaps just much better at selling their opinions than others. Better marketing = better recognition (indecently, it also helps to be saying what you think the audience wants to hear as well!)
  • To that effect I guess knowing the behaviour of others and how the audience will respond is a key attribute. The focus of some individuals is 'give the people what they want', rather than the other party who may well just be focusing on the nature of the topic they are discussing. If folks aren't already talking about it then it can be difficult to create conversation from scratch
  • Communication methods are another big factor. We're taught/conditioned into the idea that everything we consume should be quick, condensed down to a few words, easily created and easily forgotten for the next thing. It can be difficult to sometimes condense a new idea into a few words, perhaps this goes back to marketing skills though?

Anyway, I guess I've not even scratch half of the 'why' there but it feels like a start. The saying goes 'quality speaks for itself', however, I wonder if it is more apt to say 'quality only speaks when someone is listening'.

I agree about the missing out, and I agree the why may require deeper exploration.

All good, everything in it's right time, read whatever speaks to you, whenever it feels right. :)

Very interesting point about the echo chamber phenomenon, seems like a 'weird' choice though, to self-limit and cut oneself off from potentially useful data, ideas, and perspectives.

I love that you recalled my other points about selling & persuasion, and taking it a step further by looking at starting a convo from scratch vs. 'piggy-backing' on something people are already discussing.

@cynshineonline suggested communication and language be my next mega-guide, we'll see.

Thanks for scratching at the 'why', and yes, 'quality speaks for itself' is a pretty big over-simplification, it ignores the whole 'listening/hearing' aspect, putting all responsibility on the 'speaker.'

Food for thought, ty. 🙏

Thanks for the response, I think the echo-chamber idea is a bit like a safety blanket. We surround ourselves with agreeing opinions often because we feel safe in ourselves and in our ideas when we're not challenged. We all on some level or another want to feel safe and so it is easy to find you build up those agreeing arguments and look to them for comfort when challenged. There is also and algorithmic side to it where platforms will tailor the user experience to you interactions, so because we like/comment/view certain content the algorithm will consider into the model when determining how to set up our feed. The down side is that it can artificially create an echo chamber even though we're not looking for one.

I complete agree it seems odd to not want to be challenged, but then is it not also odd to always want to be challenged? I think the real art is in viewing content/opinions/ideas and having the introspection to be able to ask yourself 'why you agree/disagree with the content'. Self reflection should help us to determine if our initial reactions are justified and also what they are based on.

My pleasure. And I agree with your theory here, it's very likely to do with perceived safety.

Ultimately, ideas can't hurt people, so the more ideas the better. More ideas = more info = more perspectives = better informed choices... the 'safest move' is to gain as much perspective as possible, and use introspection to navigate those well... not run and hide from them.

Thanks again! 😁

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