I’ve written this post to challenge the popular belief that conformity is beneficial. I argue that blind adherence to societal norms leads to a loss of personal authenticity.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself - Nietzsche
Ignorance isn’t always Bliss
When the conventional wisdom is adopted without thought, it loses its meaning. It is easy to develop a mentality of following these conventional values because of the pressure to conform to societal norms. But it’s just intellectual laziness giving a false sense of safety and belonging while you end up with shallow values.
Conformity vs. Authenticity
When you understand why certain conventions exist and how they align or contradict with your personal values, you can make an informed decision about adopting the values.
Values are shaped by our personal experience. Holding on to these values is crucial because they reflect who we truly are, not just who we are expected to be.
The Human Advantage
Humans offer a real value to society which is very different than the value provided by AI because humans have the capability to truly understand a subject and challenge its assumptions compared to AI processes vast amounts of data and identifies patterns based on this information.
While AI can generate content based on its training data, it does so without understanding the subject. This adaptation of conventional values coming from a place of informed choice rather than blind acceptance is what makes us better than AI.