We got to learn to live in a world in which most of it hardly makes sense, most of it is hypocritical, oxymoronic and contradictory. Hence it makes us one of it.
The world rarely makes sense because it is constructed from millions of conflicting agendas. We live in an era of hyper-specialization where “the truth” is often fragmented.
The Incentive Problem: Most systems (economic, political, corporate) are optimized for survival or growth, not coherence. A corporation might champion “wellness” while profiting from metabolic dysfunction. This isn’t a glitch; it is the business model.
The Speed of Information vs. Wisdom: We have access to infinite data but a scarcity of context. We are constantly flooded with information that lacks a unifying narrative, forcing the brain to create its own, often irrational, patterns to fill the gaps.
Oxymoronic Realities: We are encouraged to be “hyper-connected” while experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. We are told to “listen to experts” while experts are often incentivized to protect institutional reputations over scientific curiosity.
The “Mirroring Effect” (Hence it makes us one of it)
The second part of the quote is the most uncomfortable truth: You are not a detached observer of this absurdity; you are a participant.
When you engage with a system—whether that is a corporate career, a social media algorithm, or a medical paradigm—you are effectively using its language and logic. If you spend your time fighting the absurdity on its own terms, you often end up becoming the very thing you are fighting.
Cognitive Contagion: Constant exposure to contradictory environments leads to internal cognitive dissonance. To function, we often compartmentalize—holding two mutually exclusive beliefs simultaneously just to get through the day.
The Feedback Loop: When you recognize this, you realize that your own behaviors, anxieties, and biases are often just reflections of the environment you inhabit. You aren’t just in the world; you are being written by it.
Information Hygiene Aggressively curate inputs. If a source consistently pushes contradictory/noisy data, stop consuming it. Treat your cognitive bandwidth as a limited resource.
First-Principles Thinking Strip away “the way things are done” and look at the fundamental constraints of your problem. Build your strategy from physical or logical ground truths, not anecdotal or consensus-based ones.
Radical Self-Audit Periodically ask: Am I acting this way because it is the most effective path, or because this is how the system trained me to act?
Selective Participation You don’t have to be a nihilist to be a skeptic. Engage with the world where you must, but maintain a private, independent mental framework where you are the sole authority.
To move past being a product of the environment, you have to embrace the role of the active researcher—constantly testing the world’s claims against your own data and observations.
Do read the Disclaimer