An Empathy/Anti-Cynicism Thought Experiment
This is something I've been doing. I'm calling it an empathy/anti-cynicism thought experiment, but I'm open to better titles.
It doesn't need anything more than a basic working knowledge of the world. You might get some things wrong based on assumptions, which is fine. We don't know everything about the world. You can look up and learn more if you choose to do it. The point of doing this is to appreciate the world you're living in now and the undeniable part others play in it. You don't even have to write anything down, you can do this in your head, you can do it with another person. The point of this is to - like the title says - create empathy and be less of a cynic and also reframe the way you contribute to the world. Especially now when people feel more alone than ever, when the world has never been more connected in reach.
The Thought Experiment
Here's how you do it.
Pick an object where you are. A physical object, but you can do this with digital ones too, to an extent but let's focus outside of the bits-and-bytes world.
Take the bulb.
Now, think of how many people were involved in getting the bulb to your hand.
There's the logistics side of things. If you're in your home, did you buy it yourself or did someone else? Who put it in the socket? There's the people who work at the store where the bulb was available to buy. There are people involved in transportation and logistics who got that bulb, along with other bulbs and products to the store, maybe from a larger warehouse. There are people involved in running that warehouse too. There's the company that makes the bulbs and people who work there right now. Maybe this is a smart bulb, a new product line from the company that only made LED bulbs. Someone made that decision to develop a new line of smart bulbs. There are people who invented the smart lighting technology. There are people who invented the bulb, the original.
What about the materials that make up the bulb? Where did the glass and metal come from? There are people who have contributed to the raw materials that were refined, went to the factory, and eventually became the bulb.
It's a staggering amount of human collaboration that has made that specific bulb where you are possible, and every single person has contributed to it, and you don't know most of them. But they exist and it's because they did what they did, you have that bulb. You can argue some of them are replaceable. You don't know their names. You don't know the line worker at a manufacturing plant. You might not know the CEO of any of the companies involved in getting you that bulb. You might not even know the person working at the store. Maybe it was an online order delivered to your mailbox or a self-checkout where you didn't have to see other people. But those people who package your orders and manage the store exist, or it wouldn't be available for you to buy. And this is before we think about all the people that have helped those people. Their friends, their families, the network of people in the lives they lead.
The modern world with its increased convenience is only possible because of a complex, interconnected network of people. They aren't related to you, they aren't people you know, but it's because they work and make things happen, that you can get a bulb and not think about it for more than a few minutes that are centered around you - you buy a bulb because you want a bulb, you turn it on when you need it, it's an inconvenience to consider replacing it when it goes out.
But behind the scenes, there's been a constellation of collaboration, through time, through generations, through countries that make so much of our lives possible.
And you, you're a part of this constellation of collaboration too. The constellation is just as hard to see from the inside.
The Results (?)
Now, by the time I run this through, yeah, it can feel like a bit of gratitude meditation. But actual gratitude meditations I've tried never worked for me and felt entirely forced. Maybe it's my contrarian mind that'll see think of three things you're thankful for and give me ten things that I'm annoyed by instead because it feels like a forced emotion. But it's hard to discount all of the world and all the people and feel like everyone is terrible, when it's a fact that the bulb is there and it got there only because other people, generations of people behind them, have made it possible for that specific bulb to exist.
Gratefulness isn't guaranteed, but it can emerge. If you know too much about medical history and do it in a hospital, it might make you angry instead, which is valid. But I much prefer that anger over manufactured anger at something pushed to me by an algorithm because I'll be a more engaged user on their platform. If I want to be angry, I'm going to be angry on my own about things I choose matter to me, and not generalized rage at the world for being terrible. Because the entire world isn't terrible. It's just that the terrible parts are more visible easily and have faces that show up in your feed, or wherever you get your media.