Well, it's been a month since I last wrote a reaction paper. Today, I stumbled across a wonderful post in Askmen (Thanks to C-Chuan). It's about important quotes which could inspire, advice and warn us on little things in our life. Since the quotes are ranked according to its subject, I shall have the liberty to pick one and write about my thoughts on it:
On Fools
"Wise men speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something" -Plato
To me, it is a difficult task to screen through various books, movies and websites to find the right advice. The digital world allows people from various creeds and brains to voice out themselves. Yeah, the mentioning of FB Status/Tweets reminds me of my daily dilemma to comb through each article and respond accordingly. That was one of the reasons which i trimmed down my profile to focus on people which I want to connect today.
The question for the Plato quote is: How do we know which is wise and which is not? Even the Chinese proverb has such saying: 圣人千虑 必有一失 愚人千虑 必有一得 which means in a count of a thousand ideas/calculations, the wise may have one of them wrong and the fool may have one of them right.
I remembered reading a book warning about NOISE in communication. Noise, or the book name it 噪音, isn't necessary some background sound from the construction activity or the barking of the dogs. It could include DISTRACTIONS from various sources whether intentionally or unintentionally.
To give an example, let's imagine you are searching for a suitable smartphone. You go to hTC store which sells exclusively hTC phones. Do you expect the hTC salesperson will praise other competitors' phones and promote their home brand weaknesses? You are more likely to hear praises on the home brand, and when you ask for comparison between phones of different brands, you will notice the salesperson will highlight the strengths of the home brand and elude the weaknesses.
What about if you go to a store selling various brands? Well, he is more likely to ask what you want and match you to a chosen phone. But will he introduce you to a brand which is low in profit margin? Less likely. Will he say negative things when you are going to choose a phone with high profit margin or the brand which he is going to meet the sales quota? Less likely. He will try his best to sway you to buy something which benefits him the most, and that applies to most businesses.
So, what is Distraction? It is that influence on you to choose or act on something which benefits the person who said it. Even in headphone reviews, I can see a lot of reviews is based on business agendas or fanboy-ism, since nobody likes to think what they bought actually sucks right? Shilling happens all the time, and most of the time monetary isn't involved, but ego is.
So, how do we differ from wise and unwise, and getting the right advice? IMHO, the better way should be to know what we want to achieve, and the criteria to achieve the goal. If you are needing a phone and you have only $500, just ignore any comments of phones above $500 no matter how better the more expensive phone would be. It won't solve your problems on hand. If you know exactly what you want/need, you can better filter suggestions according to your requirements.
Moreover, it would be better if you have a list of trusted experts in similar fields. An expert in a given field is more likely to give better advice than tom-dick-and-harry walking on the street, but it is encouraged to listen to a few advice and react later rather than sticking to one source of advice to avoid myopia and haste decision. This is because how we understand a person advice may differ from the next person's opinion even though both are based on the same ground, perhaps due to the way of presentation or emphasis luring us to perceive things differently. However, be alert on the halo effect. A person who is expert in swimming may not necessary give good advice on how to shoot the basketball, even though both are sports. There are knowledge which can't be transferred and applied easily into other platforms.
Now those are my personal take on how we could discern information from the wise and the fool. What about yours? After reading my thoughts, do you have something to share on how you manage in similar situations?
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