Humainologie creative dialogue Wed April 27 with MP Mike Lake facilitating on Civility for survival

“If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Humanity is about two hundred thousand years old. But the Earth will remain habitable for hundreds of millions more—enough time for millions of future generations; enough to end disease, poverty and injustice forever; enough to create heights of flourishing unimaginable today. And if we could learn to reach out further into the cosmos, we could have more time yet: trillions of years, to explore billions of worlds. Such a lifespan places humanity in its earliest infancy. A vast and extraordinary adulthood awaits.” - Toby Ord, The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Ord

The stakes could not be higher. Greta Thunberg is aware of the stakes and of the dangers on the road ahead. How about us? Do we have that kind of awareness? With many elected political leaders behaving like two-year-old children, it doesn’t look like either they or the people who elected them have a clue. Here in Calgary, we have a chance to reduce the existential risk and give the next generation another chance.

Just hours from now, at 6:30 PM on Wednesday April 27, we will focus on a skill of existential importance: civility in our discourse on public affairs. The topic is Civility for Human Survival. Member of Parliament Mike Lake will lead our dialogue. We are very fortunate to have Mike – who has relentlessly raised awareness of the importance of civility in public life – facilitating our dialogue at 6:30 PM.

Here is the Zoom link provided by Shinobu: :

Topic: Humainologie creative dialogue

Time: Apr 27, 2022 06:30 PM

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82493463628?pwd=bm9kOFJCL3NtZm9CUmxaWWU4QlFLdz09

Meeting ID: 824 9346 3628

Passcode: 12345

Please keep in mind that whatever happens in the Big Picture referred to by Toby Ord, you and I are pixels in that Big Picture. If we make our pixel brighter, the Big Picture will be brighter.

For ease of access, I will herewith append the same bullet point concepts that I had sent out previously. I hope one or more of them will evoke a game-changing idea from you, and that you will share it with us.

Arthur

From the synopsis (previously circulated) of the book I’m Right and You’re an idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up:

· “Toxic conversations stall our ability to think collectively and solve the many dangerous problems that are stalking everyone on earth.”

· “[There are] clear differences between dialogue and debate: in debate we assume we have the right answer, whereas dialogue assumes we all have pieces of the answer and can craft a solution together.”

· “…by working to create a climate of trust, a community of discourse, we build up capital that we can use to deal with tricky issues in the future.”

· “People need to feel respected and supported, not criticized.”

· “Self-righteousness is a barrier to self-change, and an impediment to persuading others.” Being passionate about specific issues is important but hold your opinions lightly and be ready to change your views.

· Hoggan emphasizes two key strategies he had learned: 1) Don’t get into fights; or as George Bernard Shaw had said, “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” 2) Do not be silent. Tell your own story, otherwise you lose by default.

· Adam Kahane has helped transcend barriers as severe as apartheid in South Africa, by bringing adversaries into a discussion of possibilities. He does not try to convince people to do anything they don’t want to do. “’They don’t need to agree on the solution or the problem. They don’t need to understand each other, trust each other or even like each other.’ But they do have to recognize that the only way to move forward is together.”

· “One defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself”

· Deep listening and respect for the adversary are both essential.

· We can learn from the success of the civil rights movement: Never give up. All our progress notwithstanding, to this day there has been no “ultimate victory” and there is still a lot of work to do. There will always be those who intentionally pollute public discourse. But the majority are waiting for us to clean it up. We must persist.