In this Café, I explore the fact that most of our knowledge is a delusion. We know far less than we think we do, yet we fight over our beliefs. I then initiate a conversation as to why we are so polarized and how to overcome it.
Theme: The Knowledge Delusion
Format: Knowledge Café
Delivery: Face-to-face, Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Duration: 120, 90 or 60 minutes
Introduction
This Café is one in a series of Knowledge Cafés on Conversational Leadership that I run face-to-face, on Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Each Café is themed on material from my online blook on Conversational Leadership.
If you are unfamiliar with the Knowledge Café concept, this event is participatory, though I can run it as a webinar.
Theme
We have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don’t even know how a toilet works.
As individuals, we know almost nothing compared to what we think we know. Our personal knowledge is a delusion.
Most of our individual beliefs are not based on our personal experience or even our analysis of the evidence. They are based on our trust or distrust of other people and institutions. Despite this, we argue and fight over our beliefs.
Format
In this Café, I talk about the theme for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the participants and the time available, and then pose the Café question
How do we overcome our polarization?
We then go into Café mode.
Reading Material
This post in my blook is optional reading material for the participants before or after the Café.