#29: FILTER YOUR SIGNAL

In Physics, filters are used to extract or remove unwanted noise, interference and distortion from an input signal that is passing through a telecommunication system.

This mechanism processes the signal to a more desired form so as to get a better output. 

A typical example of a system that uses this mechanism is your radio. Without this mechanism, your radio will sound like shit.

And just as your radio uses this mechanism in order to be less shitty when you turn it on, you also need to incorporate such mechanism in order not to be misinformed in the world we live in today.

Evidently, there is an influx of information at our fingertips. 

Just look at the internet and you’ll see what I’m telling you. 

If it’s not fake news here, then it’s something else over there. If it’s not someone trying to misrepresent facts or statistics, then it’s something else, like, trying to dish out a ridiculous opinion under the guise of facts. 

Oh! I didn’t even tell you of people who concoct outlandish conspiracy theories and expect you to believe in them. Well, they are everywhere, and you need to keep a safe distance from them. 

Even in physical conversations, you're still not safe.

Listening to news on radio or watching TV? You're also not safe. The news media itself is not fully reliable and trustworthy because news is often reported according to the narrative the outlet wants you to have.

If that's the case, you stand a risk of being misinformed. And I bet you wouldn't want to take chances.

The fact is, a news outlet can go to whatever length to hide a relevant part of an information from you as long they don't want you to have a clue of what's actually going on from multiple viewpoints.

The bad thing is you might not even know that something is hidden from you.

This is just a tip of the iceberg. I'd be lying if I tell you there aren't other kinds of fucked up information out there that you need to protect yourself from. 

How can I do that, you ask? Well, you can do so by filtering your signal.

Mind you, the signal here is the information you’re exposed to which comes intertwined with noise. The noise includes a range of things like: unwanted lies, biased narratives and stupid conspiracy theories, just to name a few.

Your work here is to learn how to analyze any piece of information you come across by separating the grain from the chaff—by separating the meaningful, sensible and reasonable part from that which is not before deciding to believe it or not.

To do so, you must:

1. LET GO OF YOUR PREEXISTING BELIEFS

It’s easy to be clouded by the opinion, view or belief you’ve formed overtime about something. 

But you have to do away with that by being open-minded in the face of events. That is, by trying to make sense out of something first before outrightly labelling it as true or false, good or bad, right or wrong.

Doing so is actually not easy. It takes a lot of willpower. My old friend, Aristotle, knew this is not easy. That's why he said I should let you know that “It takes an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

If you aren't a naughty fellow, I'm sure you're going to subscribe to this age-old words of wisdom by, of course, making use of it.

See, If you stick to your preexisting beliefs about something without reexamining it from time to time, you're indirectly limiting yourself from gaining a better understanding of the world, and from knowing whether your current beliefs are even right or wrong.

The thing is, most people are myopic and narrow-minded when it comes to assimilating and synthesizing information that is contrary to what they already believe in. I really don't want you to be one of such people.

For such people, If it's not one cognitive bias that’s into effect, it’s another. 

This bias, confirmation bias, to be precise will always try to validate your pre-existing beliefs.

You need to be wary of it by stepping out of your own beliefs (even though it's not comfortable) in order to find the true meaning of events as they unfold with time.

2. DIG THE MEANING

When you come across a new information, don’t be quick to believe it or not. Always pause awhile and try to make sense out of it first. Ask yourself questions like:

• What is the narrative this information is trying to pass across?

• Does this narrative make sense or not?

• Is this narrative true or false? If it's true, how sure am I? And if it's false, how sure am I?

• Is there any fact to back up this information? And how credible is the source of the fact?

• What if this information speaks of only one perspective? What could be said of this same information from other perspectives?

3. FORM YOUR OWN NARRATIVES

Good! Now that you've dug deep to find meaning by answering the questions above, the next thing to do is to contextualize your evaluations.

Just as fried rice is being garnished with chicken, coleslaw and other necessary things, that's how you ought to spice up the information you've perused before feeding it into your mind.

In simper terms, I mean you should form your own narratives about that piece of information that's being passed to you on the basis of your own understanding about it using the evaluations you've made earlier.

Don't allow yourself to be fed what to believe in without perusing to see if at all you should believe it or not.

Doing so grants you the power to be in control. It makes you to have a mind of your own instead of being controlled by the narratives of others (without even knowing).

On the whole, it's necessary to remain skeptical about any information you come across if at all you don't want to be fed with lies.

As Adam Conover noted, “I think that at the end of the day correcting misinformation and questioning what we think we know as a habit of mind is incredibly important.”

Thus, now is the best time to FILTER YOUR SIGNAL.