This is really powerful to me. I often feel myself clinging to hope while having a negative outlook on the things happening in the world around me. This puts into words some of the mixed feelings I have experienced when hoping for a better world. It reminds me of the saying: "hope for the best, expect for the worst."

The idea that society will crumble because people are unwilling to stand up to authoritarian leadership is quite frightening. This passage also highlights how people are willing to sacrifice the disenfranchised for their own gain instead of tackling the system as a whole.

This explanation stands out to me because it shows that instead of trying to solve cultural problems, today's society would rather blame them on a certain group of people. By doing this, it demonizes everything about this group and creates harmful stereotypes that open the doors for racism.

This relates back to the idea of confirmation bias. The more you are shown similar content to your beliefs, the more ingrained those beliefs become.

I think this is a really important concept to remember while trying to combat this issue. Fear just makes people feel more divided in my opinion.

I had no idea this was a thing. It is honestly pretty scary to think about how specific (and harmful) these ads can get.

I've often wondered about these exact issues and this is one of the first real solutions I've come across. It is hard to imagine this being successfully enforced in our world of 1st amendment rights, but I think this could be incredibly helpful to decrease the spread of mis/disinformation.

This is interesting to me, because often times if an outside source informs you of your mistake, you will argue or stand firm against them.

This is something I have become increasingly aware of lately. When you only surround yourself with people who agree with your ideas, it is easy to convince yourself that your ideas must be the truth, because everyone else says it is.

This is an important definition to the meaning of this article. Cognitive bias happens when people develop their own ideas of reality based on personal experience, which in turn, affects their behavior. These ideas deviate from rational judgement and create a subjective reality.

This comment by Hershfield really stands out to me. I think many people feel as if saving for retirement is such a distant issue, they do not realize how fast it can creep up and how unprepared that can leave them. I like the analogy between your future self being a stranger, because it really is true in a way. It is hard to relate to, or put first something that does not exist yet.

I like how this uses technology to develop a story deeper than just traditional text. It is much more engaging and allows the reader to experience the story through multiple forms of media.

I find this interesting because I pretty much never read the same thing more than once. Thinking of reading the same thing over and over sounds painfully boring, but I do agree that it would have a much deeper impression.

I find this interesting because even though these are considered difficult, they are also considered the most fun.

I believe this is super important when it comes to reading. It's difficult to get really engaged in what you read when you are not enjoying yourself.

This sentence really stands out to me because it makes you consider that our "normal" may actually be detrimental to ourselves. We see corpse-eating as primitive and potentially dangerous. Would a more advanced society see our voting methods as the same?

While I absolutely agree with this statement, who gets to decide who is labeled as such? I may think someone is ignorant for thinking a certain way, while they believe the same of me.

Definition:

1. excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail. "Byzantine insurance regulations"
2. characterized by deviousness or underhanded procedure. adjective: byzantine "he has the most Byzantine mind in politics"

Comparing this idea to the present seems outlandish and unjust. However, I can understand the thought process behind giving extra power to those with higher education, in hopes that they would make more informed decisions. If everyone had equal access to education this may be a more feasible idea. Unfortunately, wealthy (and oftentimes white) citizens have easier access to education and job opportunities, which would make this voting system inherently unfair.

This quote from the ancient philosopher Plato is as relatable now as it was then. Everyday people are multifaceted and tend to shift their focus frequently. Many people are committed to their goals for short bursts of motivation. When this is applied to philosophy, or current day politics, it showcases that people do not always prioritize these important decisions.