I came across the below speech given by John Roberts to his son when he graduated. I can’t seem to stop pondering on how profound and insightful his words were to a young mind. I don’t believe there is much else to add, or to explain. I hope you also ponder on its meaning in your life and how you wish to give advice to any young mind out there.

“From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes. ” – John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States

In a democracy, we protect the rights of individuals to dissent, speak up and share their ideas. However in today’s world, social media has made it very easy for people to make quick and harsh judgments about someone that can have lasting ramifications. Are you noticing like I am that there are more and more instances of someone asking a question or sharing an unpopular opinion getting ostracized, shamed or Fired? How can we get to the root cause of problems or come up with solutions if people are afraid to share their views and are working off assumptions? Recently, I have noticed that we are in a “cancel culture” or “group-shaming” environment that is forcing government and companies to take actions against reasonable people who share an unpopular view, which is leading to self-censorship from many individuals who would like to be part of the solution.

Taking things out of context
Recently, Steven Pinker, an acclaimed cognitive psychologist, linguist, popular science author, and professor of psychology at Harvard, was the latest to come under attack, whom through his writing, has tried to answer complex questions relating to violence with data, along with sharing works of researchers on Twitter years ago, which is now being taken out of context. Individuals are accusing him of racism through his various works and is requesting that he be stripped of his academic standing (Link to letter of complaint , Link to analysis of complaint).

Does fear of being cancelled or shamed stifle open dialogue?
Other such examples are: Individuals are being fired for simply stating all lives matter, companies are being shamed to change terminology, brand names, or label individual’s post as truth or not etc. If you care about justice, and you absolutely should, then you should care about facts and the ability to discuss them openly. Free speech is the mechanism to keep our society working. However, our sense of justice come from those who claim to be the most offended by the conversation itself. There has been an open letter circulating with over 150 signatories that highlights how individuals are being ostracized for speaking up and offering a counter view(Link) . Additionally, an individual who has signed the letter is being shamed or attacked – I am not quite sure – by a colleague saying they feel “unsafe” because he signed his name with other individuals that may have views on other issues not related to the letter (Refer to Appendix ).

Emotional vs. rational approach
We, as humans have biases, we are irrational and we simply do not understand our own emotions. Our primal selves are hard-wired by experiences and hot emotion, which distorts and limits our view of things, sometimes magnifying threats and opportunities. We often like to think we are rational and we are operating from facts and logic, however we fall short of that. I believe we are all entitled to our opinions, and we should be able to express that in a way that is respectful – by both parties free from labels and judgement. A beautiful example of this is, Sam Harris (atheist) and a pastor having a conversation in front of a church congregation (Link ). The respectful manner this was conducted was absolutely beautiful.  We should aim to understand and change minds versus the current trend I’m noticing of labeling someone and seeking them to be cancelled or shamed. We all have very different lived experiences and through those we have formed an opinion. It may be wrong or right. However, it is your truth, which may not be aligned to current scientific research, data, or biology.

Humans are flawed, history shows this in many ways by the various atrocities. However, we can learn from our mistakes and be better. But, we first need to collectively understand (3) things:

1. First, we need to be aware that we are forming an opinion or world view from a place of personal lived experiences and unconscious bias.
2. Second, take a step back and really assess what we are saying and our expectation for change – Sometimes we can go too far in calling out oppressive behavior and we can end up committing oppressive behavior ourselves.
3. Third, be open to changing your mind. Butter and Cannabis used to be controversial and demonized for reasons that can lead to bad outcomes, but now the thinking has changed.

Expanding my perspective by learning from other experiences
I am a person of color. Born in Suriname and grown up in Guyana, I slept on the floor, I used a Coco-Cola crate as a chair, ate onions or milk with rice. I mention this because this plays a role in how I view the world, along with my religion – I was born in a Hindu household, later converted to Christianity. I am aware that my lived experience is very different than others, so I constantly read and try to understand rather than cast my views, based solely on my experience. I want to be informed and approach solutions with lasting change.  Many of my stance contradicts with my religion and/or views, simply because it is the right thing to do. However lately, I find myself hesitant to speak-up or ask questions on some events out of fear that I might be group-shamed or cancelled. The writing of this article may rub some the wrong way, but that is not my intention as I’m not leaning a certain way on a particular issue. I would like us to find a better mode of open dialogue rather than the use of social media.

Appendix

2019 was an eventful year; we saw an impeachment trial, big fines levied on tech companies; the unprecedented amount of CEO shake-ups, and the on-going saga of the US-China trade war. These are the things that we saw in the news almost daily, and it drowned out some of the other news that would require coverage. Tom Whitwell publishes a yearly list of things he learnt and recently published his 2019 list; as I was reading all the articles I realized, I missed all of the things he learnt, which led me to my blog post.

The ones that drew my attention the most were:

• #7 three private companies have fallen victim to ‘deep fake’ audio fraud – The fact that companies have fallen victim to deep fake audios are quite concerning in my world. Deep fake is an emerging risk and companies need to investigate protocols and controls to put into place, not to mention training for companies to discern or detect deep fakes.
• #19 Google and Facebook lost $100 million between them to one scammer – It’s concerning when big tech companies like Google and Facebook has fallen preyed to fake invoices, not a nominal amount, but 100 MILLION (yes, all caps). This might be less than 1% of total revenue. However, it highlights that cyber awareness is crucial and the companies first defense.
• #20 Teenagers with acne get higher marks, are more likely to complete college and, if female, eventually get paid more than people without teenage acne – Mhmmmm, this one is interesting…. I may have to conduct my own research on some of my friends that have acne to validate if they are getting paid more than me 🙂
• #23 in the 1990s, it seems the US forgot how to make a critical component of some nuclear warheads – It’s hilarious to think the biggest employer in the US forgot how to make a critical component of a nuclear warhead…. Make sure you document everything!!!!! use this report as a driving force for your companies.
• #28 Fashion++ is a Facebook-funded computer vision project that looks at a photo of your outfit and suggests ‘minimal edits for outfit improvement’ like tucking in a shirt or removing an accessory – Facebook getting into fashion advice scares me for the reason that: A) They are analyzing your picture and every part of your body, this is a perfect way to train their AI to know you and can pick you out on a street with thousands of people, all they need is access to a CCTV camera… Maybe, after they train their model, they can sell their model to the US government to monitor it’s citizens , which is against the law  FYI. But, that did not stop them……. Be worried!
• #30 No babies born in Britain in 2016 were named Nigel – No babies in Britain named Nigel……Immigrants are definitely taking over LOL.
• #34 28% of people like the smell of (their own) urine after eating asparagus – 28% of people like the smell of their own urine after eating asparagus? that’s just wrong, but if you are in that 28%, all the luck to you.
• #35 AliBaba is investing $15m to research Chinese dialects, hoping to improve the performance of their voice recognition systems – Sure…………… very skeptical of AliBaba and their ties to the government. This just allows them to create amazing tech to use by the government.
• #41 Disco, a Japanese high tech manufacturing company, has introduced an internal billing and payment system, where every cost is charged back to workers. Renting a conference room costs $100. “People really cut back on useless meetings,” says one staffer – Now, that is what I call innovation and efficiency

Below is the full list of 52 things Tom learnt in 2019.

1. Each year humanity produces 1,000 times more transistors than grains of rice and wheat combined. [Mark P Mills]
2. The maths of queuing are absolutely brutal and counter-intuitive. [John D Cook]
3. Emojis are starting to appear in evidence in court cases, and lawyers are worried: “When emoji symbols are strung together, we don’t have a reliable way of interpreting their meaning.” (In 2017, an Israeli judge had to decide if one emoji-filled message constituted a verbal contract) [Eric Goldman]
4. Harbinger customers are customers who buy products that tend to fail. They group together, forming harbinger zip codes. If households in those zip codes buy a product, it is likely to fail. If they back a political candidate, they are likely to lose the election. [Simester, Tucker & Yang]
5. Baijiu is the world’s most popular spirit, with 10bn litres sold each year, almost entirely in China. The second most popular spirit in the world is vodka, with just 5bn litres sold. [Feyi Fawehinmi]
6. A Python script, an Instagram account and quite a bit of free time can get you free meals in New York City. [Chris Buetti]
7. At least three private companies have fallen victim to ‘deep fake’ audio fraud. In each case, a computerised voice clone of the company CEO “called a senior financial officer to request an urgent money transfer.” [Kaveh Waddell, Jennifer A. Kingson]
8. Drunk shopping could be a $45bn /year industry, and only 6% of people regret their drunk purchases. [Zachary Crockett]
9. Placebos are so effective that placebo placebos work: A pain cream with no active ingredients worked even when not used by the patient. Just owning the cream was enough to reduce pain. [Victoria Wai-lanYeung]
10. Since the 1960s, British motorways have been deliberately designed by computer as series of long curves, rather than straight lines. This is done for both safety (less hypnotic) and aesthetic (“sculpture on an exciting, grand scale”) reasons. [Joe Moran]
11. Between 1880 and 1916, Ireland had its own timezone, which was 25m 21s behind Greenwich Mean Time. After the Easter Rising, the House of Commons in London introduced GMT in Ireland and abolished Dublin Mean Time [Elena Goukassian]
12. Drug names are changing: X and Z names (Prozac, Seroxat) are giving way to names ending in O or A (Natesto, Qsymia) which are more appealing to speakers of Romance languages in Europe and South America. [Pascaline Faure]
13. The UK male suicide rate is the lowest since accurate records began in 1981. [Office for National Statistics]
14. The goal of walking 10,000 steps per day may have originated when a Japanese pedometer manufacturer noticed that the 万 symbol (which means 10,000) looks a little like someone walking. The actual health merits of that number ‘have never been validated by research.’ [Amanda Mull]
15. People hate asking sensitive questions. However, it turns out that people don’t hate being asked sensitive questions. So talking around difficult questions in research interviews is a waste of time and money. [Hart, VanEpps, Schweitzer]
16. The Korean Police force includes five labradors who are clones of ‘Quinn’, a bomb-sniffing dog who found fame after finding a missing girl’s body in a 2007 kidnapping. [Kim Tong-hyung]
17. As mobile phones became mainstream in the US in the early 1990s, the murder rate fell sharply. Street drug dealing became less popular, so gang-related turf wars were less common. (Other factors were also involved, obviously.) [Alexis C. Madrigal]
18. Mechanical devices to cheat your phone pedometer (for health insurance fraud or vanity) are now all over AliExpress. [Matthew Brennan]
19. In 2017 Google and Facebook lost $100 million between them to one scammer who sent them fake invoices. [Jeff John Roberts] [found by TomBot*]
20. Teenagers with acne get higher marks, are more likely to complete college and, if female, eventually get paid more than people without teenage acne. [Hugo M. Mialon & Erik T. Nesson]
21. 72% of classical musicians have taken beta blockers for performance anxiety. [Composed]
22. Black women in the United States die in childbirth at roughly the same rate as women in Mongolia. [Annie Lowrey]
23. Sometime in the 1990s, it seems the US forgot how to make a critical component of some nuclear warheads. [Nick Baumann]
24. “Mushrooms and truffles are fungi, more closely related to humans than they are to plants.” [Lynne Peskoe-Yang]
25. In the US Northwest, rain can damage the fruit on cherry trees. So helicopter pilots are paid to fly over the orchards, using their downdraft to dry the fruit as it ripens. For the pilots, it’s a risky but potentially profitable job. [Maria Langer]
26. Gravitricity is a Scottish startup planning to store energy by lifting huge weights up a disused mine shaft when electricity is cheap, dropping them down to generate power when it is expensive. Using a 12,000 tonne weight (roughly the weight of the Eiffel tower), it should be half as expensive as equivalent lithium ion battery. [Jillian Ambrose]
27. Spotify pays by the song. Two three minute songs are twice as profitable as one six minute song. So songs are getting shorter. [Dan Kopf]
28. Fashion++ is a Facebook-funded computer vision project that looks at a photo of your outfit and suggests ‘minimal edits for outfit improvement’ like tucking in a shirt or removing an accessory. [Wei-Lin Hsiao & co] (In 2019, Fluxx helped launch Vogue Business.)
29. Three million students at US schools don’t have the internet at home. [Michael Melia & co]
30. No babies born in Britain in 2016 were named Nigel. [Jonathan Ore] (Correction: Robert Colvile, who broke the original story, points out that there could have been one or two Nigels in 2016 — the ONS only reports names with three or more examples)
31. Using machine learning, researchers can now predict how likely an individual is to be involve in a car accident by looking at the image of their home address on Google Street View. [Kinga Kita-Wojciechowska]
32. In 2018, the Nigerian government spent more on subsidies for petrol than on health, education, or defence. [Andrew S Nevin]
33. According to WaterAid research, women spend 97 billion hours a year looking for a safe place to go to the loo. That equals 46 million working years, which is the same workforce as Germany, the fourth largest economy in the world. [Caroline Criado Perez via Tanya Gold]
34. 28% of people like the smell of (their own) urine after eating asparagus.[Rolf Degen]
35. AliBaba is investing $15m to research Chinese dialects, hoping to improve the performance of their voice recognition systems. [Emma Lee]
36. At least half of the effort of most AI projects goes on data labelling, and that’s often done in rural Indian villages. [Anand Murali]
37. Worldwide, growth in the fragrance industry is lagging behind cosmetics and skincare products. Why? ‘You can’t smell a selfie’. [Andrea Felsted and Sarah Halzack]
38. CD sales still make up 78% of music revenue in Japan (compared with less than 30% in the UK). Japanese pop fans have been encouraged to buy multiple copies of their favourite releases to win rewards (buy 2,000 copies, win a night at a hot spring with your favourite star). One 32 year-old fan was charged with illegally dumping 585 copies of a CD on the side of a mountain. [Mark Mulligan] [found by TomBot*]
39. Two disgruntled game developers wrote a script to generate and release identical but differently-named slot machine apps (sample names: Deer Antler Spray Slots, 3D Ravioli Slots). Eventually, the slot machine apps earned them $50,000. [Alex Schwartz & Ziba Scott]
40. 80% of prisoners released late 2018 in a presidential pardon have opted to return to Kinshasa’s infamous Makala jail due to lack of means to live. [Olivier Kalume]
41. Disco, a Japanese high tech manufacturing company, has introduced an internal billing and payment system, where every cost is charged back to workers. Renting a conference room costs $100. “People really cut back on useless meetings,” says one staffer. [Yuji Nakamura & Yuki Furukawa]
42. A man who bought the personalised number plate NULL has received over $12,000 of parking fines, because the system records ‘NULL’ when no numberplate has been recorded. [Jack Morse]
43. The islands of Orkney generate 120% of their energy needs using wind and solar. However, 57% of homes in Orkney are in fuel poverty, where a household spends more than 10% of income on fuel. [Chris Silver] (This year I worked briefly with Community Energy Scotland on a project with Energy Systems Catapult)
44. Some blind people can understand speech that is almost three times faster than the fastest speech sighted people can understand. They can use speech synthesisers set at at 800 words per minute (conversational speech is 120–150 wpm). Research suggests that a section of the brain that normally responds to light is re-mapped in blind people to process sound. [Austin Hicks & R Douglas Fields]
45. SpottedRisk is a disgrace insurance company built on data: “Firstborns are at slightly higher risk of disgrace, as are those… who’ve suffered recent breakups — until the passage of time sends the bereft partner back down the ‘risk-decay curve.’” [Boris Kachka]
46. SDAM (Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory) is a rare syndrome where otherwise healthy, high-functioning people are unable to remember events from their own life. There is also an exhausting syndrome called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, where people can remember precise details about every single day of their life. [Palumbo & Alain]
47. “Polling by phone has become very expensive, as the number of Americans willing to respond to unexpected or unknown callers has dropped. In the mid-to-late-20th century response rates were as high as 70%… [falling to] a mere 6% of the people it tried to survey in 2018.” [The Economist]
48. In 2012, only one sports team (Manchester United) was worth more than $2bn. Today, there are 52 sports teams worth more than $2bn. [Kurt Badenhausen]
49. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were invented by a cleaner at a Frito-Lay factory. He’s now VP of multicultural sales for PepsiCo America. [Zachary Crockett]
50. Six reluctant Chinese hitmen who hired each other to carry out a murder went to jail when their outsourcing scheme collapsed. [Eric Cheung]
51. Fast fashion is hitting the wiping rags businesses, because some clothing is just too badly made to be sold as rags. [Adam Minter] (In January, Fluxx worked with Fibretrace to develop new ways to make the circular economy work in fashion.)
52. Asking ‘What questions do you have for me?’ can be dramatically more effective than ‘Any questions?’ at the end of a talk. (Many more good tips in this thread. [Jacqueline Antonovich]

The above list was originally posted on Tom’s medium blog