# Strategic Contrast By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-12-27 Examine what people are doing, and then do the opposite. Strategic contrast can be beneficial. In a world where most people take three seconds to read a tweet, take thirty minutes to read a book chapter. In a world where most people use an AI chatbot to write, take time to write and rewrite a paper. If one can read a book or write a paper, one can read a tweet or chat with a bot. The opposite isn’t necessarily accurate. Being able to concentrate and create will become increasingly in-demand skills. The problem is, that they won’t become in demand until after most people become conditioned and constrained by the current mode of production. To cultivate these skills, one must strategically understand the situation. People are increasingly looking at their phones for information. Tweets, texts, and news blasts are common. These take somewhere between two and twenty seconds to read. This amounts to the blink of an eye when ingesting information. This level of awareness is adequate for the weather. It is woefully inadequate for geopolitical concerns. Knowledge is being reduced to trivia, and the ability to communicate is diminished to mimicry. In such an environment, the person who knows something and can communicate it effectively will be in charge. Each generation faces its unique form of social conditioning. Growing up, there is safety in being part of the pack. As one develops, it is hard to stake a position radically contrary to the dominant paradigm. Whereas this is difficult, it is also beneficial. Scarcity is often related to value. Having unique skills usually commands a premium in the marketplace. If one asked, do you think it will be beneficial to be unable to concentrate for more than a few seconds and structure one’s thoughts on one’s own, the answer is almost assuredly no. This is the current social conditioning to which our youth are being subjected. Such a conditioning aligns well with those who wish to exploit the workforce. Deskilled people who are unable to think are easy marks for manipulation. Strategic contrast to the social norm is a radical form of resistance. #### Related Items [[Strategy]] [[Thinking]] [[Work]] [[Society]] [[Radicals]] [[Norms]] [[Problem Solving]]