Why it's important to evolve as society evolves

Evolution is necessary, but evolution just to evolve is inauthentic. Where and how do we draw the line?

Initially, I considered writing this piece as a very straight forward part two to my last post. Then, I came across this piece in Harper's Magazine. I highly recommend reading the previous link before reading further. I'll wait.

We must evolve. Humans will evolve regardless of what we do, but in our short lives, we must take action to stay with current social and cultural times. Not cultural norms. Cultural times.

Norms versus times

A norm is something usual, typical, or standard. Norms change dramatically and quickly.

Cultural norms shift over time and can regress. The simplest example of a norm is what Americans consider healthy food. Healthy eating science has remained more or less the same since the 1950s. But something different happened in the 50s that changed the way we eat for the worse: convenience. We created and started using microwaves to make highly processed foods, which liberated housewives. The norm became purchasing cheap, processed food, and cooking it quickly in a microwave. Jump to the 70s, and the norm shifted again with our unscientific war on fat. Processed food manufacturers replaced fat with sugar, and the fat-free trend continued for years. This shift led, in part, to the obesity epidemic we are still experiencing.

Separately, the times have changed in how we view consuming meat. We view meat consumption much differently than we did 50 years ago. From 2014-2017, the number of people who practice vegetarianism and veganism rose by 600%. Similarly, because we have a better understanding of the long-term health implications of poor diets, our times dictate that healthier nutrition leads to a longer, healthier life. Referencing back to the above, our understanding of macro-nutrition has not changed much over the last 60 years, but how we enact that information has. So, while diets may be norms (e.g., Atkins), our culture is moving towards an overall healthier nutritional outlook.

Cultural progression

Culture progresses. It happens whether we are moving along the x- and y-axis. The purpose of the above image is to illustrate how culture progresses and what ways we can or cannot progress with it.

Woke

For lack of a better term, I use woke to describe those who are culturally ahead of their times. This group of people gets it. These are the people who were anti-slavery in the 1500s and anti-child labor in the 1800s. These people also sit with a lot of pain because of their knowledge. Mostly strong advocates who never see the fruits of their advocacy, the woke crowd is in a constant battle for others to see their perspectives.

Aware

The vast majority of people are simply aware. These are the people who know what they should do, understand why, and make choices with the times most of the time. Occasionally, an aware person goes against what the times suggest for selfish reasons, and this can cause them great pain while benefitting them. An example of an aware person is someone who agrees that protesting for the Black Lives Matter movement is a good thing, but this person might not participate in the protests. This person donates a minimal amount to causes he or she believes in, but he doesn't get on the front lines and volunteer.

This is you, and this is me. We are all in this relatively average category. We know what we should do, we do it when it's convenient for us, and we adapt to the new normals as time goes on to ensure we seem ignorant. This group may also believe that the woke folks are extreme, and they use this as an excuse to sit on the sidelines.

Ignorant

The blissfully ignorant crowd exists outside of culture's normal. These are the people who say things like "I was born in the wrong era." This is an excuse to say, do, and believe things that are no longer culturally accepted. This group is very resistant to change because change is hard and change may require personal sacrifice. Many in this group have no idea that they are ignorant, and in fact, they likely believe that the model is flipped. This group believes that they are ahead of the times, that the woke group is the fringe extremist group, and that eventually, everything will return to normal. And as we've seen dozens of times, this group is always incorrect.

How to evolve

I write this with hope. I used to be ignorant in many ways. I'm still ignorant in many others. Ignorance is not our fault most of the time. Where I grew up, there was almost no diversity. The wealth gap was much smaller than what it is in many larger areas. I didn't leave the state (mind you, I lived less than an hour away from a state border) until I was 18. That was also the first time I flew on a plane. I didn't experience how delicious Thai and Mexican food were until much later.

Why am I telling you this? Because moving forward is more than reading books and the news. Moving forward is more than becoming friends with someone from a different background or eating at restaurants with the food you're not accustomed to. We move forward with experiences. We must experience different cultures and foods and places to move from ignorant to aware.

There are dozens of ways to gain the required experiences, some costing a lot of money or time and others costing very little. It is up to you to decide both whether you want to evolve to become more aware and how to gain the necessary experiences.