This Diet Trims Fat In a Place You Don't Think You Use

Ripple current is what makes your phone heat up.

Electromagnetism defines how we transmit and receive information.

You exist based on a three billion letter long string that only uses four molecules.

Each of these statements is true based on scientific experiment and observation.

When it comes to facts, we tend to take them at face value because we assume the source is credible.

With the rise of the internet, and now AI, it is more important than ever to vet whether text, image, video, or even the person is credible or even existed in the first place.

It’s one of the harder things to validate, and prismatic thinking requires an extra step or two to really build confidence in where you get information from.

99% of the time, we don’t have the time or care enough because it won’t have a major impact on our daily lives, relationships, or wallets.

When it does, though, cultivating the actions to have confidence in where you get your information from can go a long way towards avoiding the echo chamber effect that is now a tap away at all times in your pocket.

Let’s go into a little more about how you can do this in the brave new world we’re getting ourselves into…

The “who (WHO?)”

In my previous issue discussing the first principle of prismatic thinking (connection), I shared an example about vendors selling their products at a farmer’s market.

For the most part, you can expect that what they offer at the kiosks from week to week are actually made by them. It’d be a pretty sad state of affairs to find out that they’re just drop shipping from a foreign country and repackaging it…

Produce like fruits and vegetables are harder to rip off, which reminds me of an Ingles commercial I saw back in the 90s where the farmer kept sending his wife to get what their customers were asking for.

Anyway, there are typically a few hoops to jump through in order to set up shop at these weekly venues such as business permits, specific product licenses, and at the very least a Retail Food Establishment license.

I tell you all of this to emphasize that the barrier to entry is higher than the wild west of the internet these days, so it’s at least a reputable place to get quality products.

These days, places like Amazon, Etsy, and Newegg are examples of caveat emptor (buyer beware) because you never know for sure whether it’s a reputable vendor.

Every aspect of the digital experience can be gamed…right down to the testimonials.

With AI, it’s easier than ever to create digital avatars wholesale on Instagram to generate revenue as well.

Sooo, yeah. Vetting your source of anything from the content you consume to the products you purchase (digital or otherwise) is a good habit to cultivate.

Which brings me to the “how”.

How do you check and validate the sources?

The Proof is In This

When it comes to content, the most powerful and compelling material to share are the personal experiences.

Regardless of what AI can do, it can’t share its personal experiences at present.

Perhaps someday it will when robots take over the world…but I digress.

Right now, AI is a powerful scraper with some analytical capabilities, but I don’t have the dough lying around to pay $200 a month for it.

Since I enjoy making my own content (create the kind you want to see, right?), and I’m a part of the community that is passionate about providing personal perspective to my audience, let’s talk about how to both validate and be prepared to validate the proof.

The Audience Perspective

If it’s important enough to affect you significantly, consider doing the following when it comes to consumption:

• use multiple sources

• gather multiple perspectives

• do your homework across the internet

If something is too good to be true, it’s most likely the case.

If statements are made in absolute terms, there’s a high chance of the opposite also being asserted.

As a rule of thumb, bias is something that takes time to become aware of in everything that you consider, and it’s not easy to consume something that does not align with your perceptions.

The Provider Perspective

Your reputation lives and dies by word-of-mouth, and this is especially true in countries with a well-maintained internet service.

I remember my experience in a rather pricey restaurant in Taiwan where we discovered a large moth among the tea leaves of our beverage. The manager was rightfully horrified and personally gave me his card.

The court of public opinion can turn on a dime so have these ready:

• a background or elevator pitch

• documentation that proves your expertise

• consistency in your presentation of your personality

These are just the start, but it’s the mindset that I’m emphasizing here.

And that takes time, so start now.

It goes a long way towards exiting an echo chamber, deprogramming from a cult, or unplugging from the Matrix (whatever idea floats your boat).

It all comes back to this

Things change all the time. You’re changing all the time.

What you believe now isn’t necessarily going to be what you believe ten years from now.

I never thought I’d end up being a writer and a content creator on top of pursuing a career or being a parent for that matter.

Keeping an open mind but also being careful about what you consume goes a long way towards controlling your “information diet”.

Your eyes can close or open within your control beyond the need to blink.

That street goes both ways.

P. S.

As you get to see everything I write here first, I should state that it’s not going to be all that polished or refined, but I have focus and direction for the first time on this journey.

As I flesh out and consolidate all the ideas I’ve shared over the past two years into my own little universe of content, I hope this will be something you can use as a guide to improve your systems towards your goals.

Oh, and if you read this far, the first three statements are based on my personal experience as an electrical engineer with a PhD that demonstrated something based on those facts.