#1 First Principles: A guide to thinking in polarized times
We live in polarized times and we know it. But how did we get here and how to grow out of it?
Photo by Juan Rumimpunu on Unsplash
“Did your government manage Covid-19 effectively?”
“Is your economic system spreading prosperity or are the 1% exploiting everyone else?”
“Are traditional values in your society under threat or has social media empowered the bigots?”
These are some of the questions that we can no longer to have a consensus on. Where we stand on the political spectrum informs how we interpret these questions and how we answer them. What’s worse, our reality conforms to our views rather than the opposite.
It is an interesting question to think how we got here, but I’m more interested in how we get out of it, but before that let me shine a light on the most sinister element of polarization: Truth is sacrificed at the altar of narrative and we are willing participants.
Humans have been tribal since before we realized our humanity. So tribalism is not necessarily the problem. We have always found ways around it. Fighting clans would establish alliances, people would reinterpret the events that constituted their history, new religions would spring up and so on.
What is troubling about the current times is that we have lost control. We no longer decide if want to be friendly or hostile to a group of people, our politicians and ideologues do it for us. The faceless twitter mob makes a hero of someone today and cancels them tomorrow.
Data and facts no longer matter. They can be bent to the will and convenience of the narrative. We now need fact checkers to remind us of what’s truth and what’s fiction. But by the time they can verify something, the world has moved on to the next thing.
Terms like Mainstream media and Alternate Media are now part of our vocabulary. Our politicians tells us tales and our comedians remind us of the reality. As such, we no longer trust anyone, at least not right now.
You cannot outsource your quest for information, because everyone will have a side that disappoints you. So what’s the way out?
Going back to First Principles
First principles are the ideas that you believe to be fundamental truths and everything else is informed from it.
Nations use first principles and laws are made and repealed on the basis of first principles. First principles are like personal values, ideas that you use to make a judgement when in a dilemma.
The are no correct or incorrect first principles, it’s a matter of preference.
For example, freedom and equality are dearest to me. These are the first principles I believe in and every idea that I have seeks inspiration from these. I believe in Free Market Capitalism over Socialism, because of my preference for the freedom it provides.
Someone else may prize justice over freedom, like people on the left. It does not mean that they don’t believe in freedom, but that justice takes a higher priority.
Once we have our first principles, we can start building the world around us. Let’s take an example.
On Basic/Fundamental Rights
Me: Humans are inherently free and this freedom can only be guaranteed if we create a set of rules that preserve this freedom and those rules are fundamental in nature. We need these Fundamental Rights.
My left-leaning friend: Humans deserve justice and thus we need rules to eliminate injustice and those rules guaranteeing justice are fundamental to everything else. We need to safeguard these Fundamental Rights.
The type of Economy
Me: Every human deserves freedom to enrich his and others’ lives the way he sees fit and any interventions are not only costly economically, they are immoral and thus Free Market Capitalism is the way to go about.
My left leaning friend: The world is an unequal place and when left to itself, the strong exploit the poor. Therefore, we need a system where every individual is served and if someone has to make some sacrifices, it is justified as it leads to collective good.
I hope my examples were sufficient to demonstrate how we can build the world around us and reach conclusions that are either two side of the same coin, like the importance of Fundamental Rights, or radically different such as Socialism vs Capitalism.
Now that we have established the importance of first principles, let’s see how it can help us in the world of misinformation that surrounds us.
We have all seen videos of politicians where they say one thing when in power and other when in opposition. While we cannot do anything about the need of politicians to tell lies that their constituents want to hear from them, we can decide our position on it and hopefully our clarity permeates to our leaders as well.
Taking a local example this time, let’s talk about FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in retail. The left-of-center Congress government wanted to make it easier for FDI to come to India as it would bring the investment that our economy needed to grow. The primary opposition of that time, BJP opposed it on the grounds that foreigners would come in and take over our market hurting the small businesses. Fast forward ten years and today the BJP led government highlights the amount of FDI in its election rallies while Congress calls it a selling out the nation.
How do we make a decision if FDI is good or bad for the nation?
Leaving this decision to the parties would mean that our position depends on if the party we like is in power or not. So rather than being misled or misinformed, lets look at it from the lens of First Principles.
Freedom oriented person: India is a free country and therefore everyone should have the freedom to choose. By allowing Levi’s to sell its jeans to me, I am more free to choose. I can still chose a local brand or a local store if I prefer it, but that has to be my choice. Therefore, Investment is welcome, irrespective of it being local or foreign.
Justice oriented person: Foreign firms will come in not only to invest but to make extract more profits. They will try to kill local competition to make higher profits down the road. So while we do need some FDI, we should build safeguards that protect our vulnerable sections. FDI is welcome but only as long as we are sure that we won’t cause local misery for foreign profits.
Freedom oriented person: Foreign firms coming in will lead to greater competition and there will be losers, but we need not be protecting them. If McDonalds offering hygienic food drives a shabby eatery out of business, its good for the society. Less people will be forced to eat bad food due to lack of choices.
But I understand that firms want to gain market share and in doing so will try to eliminate genuine competition for them (which is choice for the Indian consumer). We definitely should keep an eye out that FDI leads to greater competition/choice and not less of it.
Notice how despite holding polar opposite positions, and without compromising on ideals, if we heed to first principles, we can pick up any issue, identify different parts of the puzzle and agree on some and disagree on others. We can even use our first principles to reach consensus on issue that seem divisive from far.
This is what I wanted to share with you. Politicians want to differentiate themselves, and just like brands they want a dedicated following that consumes whatever the brand is able to serve.
But an informed citizen is able to think about issues independently. This independent thinking does not need reams of data, you don’t need to read research papers and get into boring debates with people like me.
Instead all you need to do is to identify your moral core, your first principles, and then deconstruct the issue at hand to reach to its basis using nothing but logic and then build it back up.
It might be difficult at first, but with time you’ll find reusable parts that can help speed up your analysis and soon you’ll be freed of the need for depending upon others for deciding your position for you. You don’t need to see the party bringing in the law before taking a stance, just a few moments of reflection.
You’ll also be less susceptible to fake news or the need for political correctness. First principles are eternal, they don’t depend on context and this is the freedom from groupthink that I wish for us as a society.