Thread by @rapplerdotcom

Rappler's @mariaressa talks with Professor Margaret Heffernan, author of 6 books including the acclaimed 'Willful Blindness : Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril'.

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@mariaressa Heffernan talks about how she came about writing "Willing Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril".

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@mariaressa Heffernan: Although [the book] does look at companies and institutions and government, it also looks at personal life and family life.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: The friction between what the world is and how we're being told to see the world is a profound irritant and we can't quite numb ourselves not to keep noticing.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: There's a whole message about inevitability in the future that deliberately or accidentally makes people hopeless, helpless and passive.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: I want to help people retrieve their sense of agency and recognize that nobody knows the future for the simple reason that it hasn't happened yet.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: I try to remind people that the future is full of surprises, and it isn't over until it's over.... Outcomes aren't entirely predictable.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: This is a kind of symmetry — you can do something and you don't know what's going to happen, but if you don't do anything, you know you're not going to have any impact.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: You may as well do something for two reasons: Something good may come out of it...and you can live with yourself. You can be an optimistic creative presence [for your loved ones]. That gives you energy to keep going.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: You can't do it alone. You can't sit with all that anger, fear, and frustration.... When you have one conversation with somebody who gets it, you find yourself having the energy to keep going for weeks.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: We have the obligation to be informed.... It's important for us to understand the tools we're using.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: Artificial intelligence doesn't have some super objectivity. In fact, it accelerates subjectivity.

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@mariaressa Heffernan: I'll be honest that there are days that I don't maintain optimism, and I think that's normal and healthy. But I feel like I have an obligation to be optimistic. Especially with my kids, I have to model optimism, which they'll need when they get older.

@mariaressa Heffernan: I have more confidence in people's capacity to think for themselves.... If we continue to be honest with each other about the way we see the world, we give confidence and courage to each other.

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@mariaressa And that's a wRap! Watch the whole episode here: rappler.com/plus-membershi…

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