Everything is interconnected

Everything in life is interconnected. People are connected via social networks, family ties, organizations, and their employers. The economy is a global net that reverbrates with the slightest of changes. We are connected to the same economy as consumers and through corporations as employees. We share the same ecology, and keep using and re-using the same ingredients through the carbon and nitrogen cycles. And after all, we are all star stuff.

But most importantly, everything effects everything sooner or later, and for every action there is a consequence. Kall it karma, or TANSTAAFL, or cause and effect. Regardless, this forms an interesting basis for morality. As human beings everything we do has consequences and we should keep those in mind. Because sooner or later there will be payback for all of our actions to either ourselves, or to someone else. And since everything is interconnected, the consequences of our actions impacting ourselves is just a matter of time. It is easy to miss this though, since feedback loops can be long.

What's in a value?

I've been meaning to write this blog post for a long while now. I don't really know why, but it's about a realization of some importance to me. And by value I don't mean the usual "our company's values are openness, honesty and integrity" bollocks. You know, the part of the holy mission-vision-strategy-values quad that companies use as repairkit when they have lost one or - more often - all of the four.

So what is a value, for a person? Here is my definition:

A value is something a person values in her or his head that cannot, and should not, be justified or rationalized.

Fundamental attribution error

Fundamental attribution error is a phenomenon in social psychology that describes a tendency in us to explain the behavior of others in terms of their personal qualities rather than circumstance. We "attribute" a person's actions to his persona rather than the immediate situation or social context.

I think this is quite a natural tendency. It is a bit like the energy minimum principle, we are always looking for simple explanations to complex issues. Much easier labeling others lazy or stupid rather than spending energy investigating the circumstances they are operating from.

And by the way, this door swings both ways. Other people are likely to think we are incompetent or not caring rather than bothering to consider that perhaps we are overworked, or having the worst hangover of our lives.

So the next time you are aggravated by your compatriots give them the benefit of the doubt. You might be missing something from the big picture that makes their (in)actions perfectly justified.