Tuesday, 9 April 2024
11 am-12 pm
We’ve known for a long time that we should eat right, lead a hygienic lifestyle and get regular exercise and oxygenation. We are also aware of the potential risks and negative effects of what could happen to our bodies if we stop taking care of ourselves.
Unfortunately, we are still far less able to handle the influx of information. In this regard, our knowledge is still more theoretical than practical, as we do not yet have centuries of experience in consciously choosing what is best for us. And the words are flowing to us faster and faster, from all sides and at all times of the day and night. They are like the air – we need it to live, but when its chemical composition changes, we can become poisoned by it. Without warning…
Therefore, the sooner we learn to live healthily also in terms of receiving information, the better for us. We cannot stop the chaotic streams of messages, but we can learn how to sort the informational wheat from the chaff, how to distinguish what serves us from what harms us, how to start controlling the content given to us ourselves and how to filter it.
For information consist of messages ranging from the extremely important and true, through the unimportant and completely irrelevant, to the false and deliberately manipulated. Added to this are texts and images created by artificial intelligence and choices suggested to us by algorithms. All of this mixed together reaches our brains from the digital, but influences our decisions in real life.
All the more reason to know:
- how to distinguish between what serves us and what harms us;
- how to tell the difference between true and false information;
- why ignorance is better than bad knowledge;
- why you should read books;
- how artificial intelligence creates hallucinating content;
- how language differences affect how we experience happiness;
- does the same word always mean the same thing;
- why context is important;
- how what we read affects our well-being.
It is worth learning how to cope in today’s world of information, misinformation and abundance of messages. Not only our well-being, but much more – our survival – depends on it. This is not the first time in human history, by the way, that our environment has changed dramatically. And although it is slightly different each time, the pattern is always similar: only those who learn how to take advantage of this change will survive.
So let’s diligently learn how to consciously choose information and how to use words wisely. And let us be cautioned by one of Polish writers, Stefan Kisielewski, who uttered an ironic observation, in a slightly different context, but still relevant today:
The fact that we are screwed is clear. The problem is that we are starting to get comfortable with it.
We should remain the ones who decide what we want to say and how to understand what has been said, and not let someone – or worse, something – decide for us.
Agnieszka Dydycz, a writer by choice, a financier by education and experience, almost an M.Sc. in construction, a certified tutor, a mentor and coach, a member of the THINK TANK expert council, and a practitioner of the good life, will talk about the influence of language on our happiness. Her books entertain, but also inspire and help us find what is best and most important for us. Two recent novels titled “I will never be taller. But I can be happier!” and “I will never be younger. But who forbids me to try!” remind us that while caring for others, we cannot not forget about ourselves. And also about the fact that we can encounter happiness at any moment of our lives and regardless of the time of day or year, but it’s entirely up to us to notice and use it!
The meeting will be held in Polish.
To confirm your participation, please contact:
Timea Balajcza, spotkania@balajcza.pl
tel.: +48 601 913 446