Seeing Reality As It Is

Seeing Reality As It Is examines the question - If there is only one reality, why can't we agree on what it is? If we understand why we each perceive reality in our own way, we are more likely to make progress in dealing with political polarization and climate change. An example of perceiving reality in our own way is seen in comparing the color perceptions of normally sighted and colorblind people. Due to genetic differences in their ability to sense color, they take away different perceptions from a common color experience. In much the same way, we are born with various perceptive differences that cause each of us to “see” the same reality in different ways. These differences result from countless ancestral trial and error survival experiences. Today, perceptive differences we inherit include variations in our biases, levels of thought-altering neurochemicals, and slightly different brain circuits that influence how we think by creating fictitious perceptions. For example, ego enhancing biases cause us to think we are more capable than we are. The particular combination of survival enhancing biases and brain traits we each inherit was coined by the author as our "genetic chaperone”. As with colorblindness, we are unaware that we have a genetic chaperone until it is brought to our attention. Given the variations in our genetic chaperones, we each “see” different survival-enhancing versions of reality instead of perceiving reality as it is. In essence, our chaperones aid our survival, not by causing us to understand reality, but by creating fictitious perceptions that cause us to respond “as if” we understand reality. An inadvertent consequence of perceiving reality in this way is that our beliefs are shaped by the false perceptions of our genetic chaperones and not by reality as it is. What is more, our false beliefs can go on to distort our future beliefs because we have a brain trait that conforms new beliefs to fit the narrative of our existing beliefs. In other words, our beliefs alter our perceptions. Recently, social media data–gathering has complicated another problem involving our genetic chaperones. Data that describes our genetic chaperone profiles is being used by “chaperone hackers” (propagandists) to manipulate how we see reality by fabricating very “personalized” fake news, social media events, and so on. Reaching agreement on what reality is can be daunting given the fictitious perceptions our genetic chaperones create. It follows that addressing problems that divide us and threaten our future might begin with understanding the nature of our genetic chaperones and how to minimize their influence.