Underrated ways to widen your horizons
This post was inspired by the excellent “Underrated ways to change the world” by A Mastroianni and focuses specifically on some easy, usually accessible and free/cheap ways to expand one’s understanding of the world, recognising the complexity of human interactions, texture and diversity more.
We live in an age where “we have the most sophisticated information technology in human history yet we have lost the ability to talk to each other”, as Y N Harari famously said. We may blame social media, AI, autocrats, capitalism, or all of those things and more; on the flip side we may look at the past and decide that nothing’s really changed, that maybe a lot of us have always been dumb/racist/selfish, only they wouldn’t show it globally because they didn’t have broadcasting platforms. I don’t know, but I think there’s something each of us can do to increase our own texture, the quality of our thoughts, the knowledge we hold about other places and the people that inhabit them. And as a bonus, we get a deeper appreciation of the value of diversity and a fuller realisation that you don’t have to know stuff, you just have to be open to learn it. Racism and discrimination can and must be fought by the force of the law, but their roots can only be extirpated by openness and recognition.
This list is far from complete, but it’s a start. It is what I try to do myself, but there’s of course plenty more ideas than these.
Listen and read news from outlets from other geographies
The farther from you, the better. Find reputable TV news channels and/or newspapers and magazines from places and cultures far apart from yours. If you’re Western, chances are most of your news intake is from Western sources and while there are of course illustrious outlets that cover the whole world, the base perspective can nevertheless be… Western. Mixing up and listening to the same piece of news from other places can be immensely educational. Many outlets from all over the world have English versions.
Read authors from other countries and less privileged backgrounds
Read books in general, especially the great literature of the world. Investigate great authors from countries you know little about and read their production. If you’re able to, read in the original language (but otherwise translators usually do an amazing job!). I found this person who’s reading a book from each country in the world and I think it’s a delightful project. Also, read women authors, black authors, queer authors, politically-persecuted authors, authors from backgrounds and walks of life that are far from yours. Read quality thoughts about race, freedom, systemic discrimination, get deep into what it can mean to be treated like you’re a lesser human being.
Use your public library (if you have the privilege to have one, I realise not everyone does), frequent your local bookstore: they’ll likely also hold events and presentations. If you’re a bookworm, entering a library can be like being in the quintessential candy store - there’ll be shelves with new acquisitions, shelves organised by topic, shelves celebrating a particular author or theme. Explore.
Watch movies and shows from [same as above]
The exact same as above applies - make an effort to look for the good stuff from abroad. Maybe you have a nearby cinema that regularly hosts foreign film festivals. Or if you pay for a streaming platform there may be sections of material from various countries, it may be worth having a look next time you’re in doubt as to what to watch.
Learn a new language
In the age of machine translation, is learning a language still a worthy enterprise? I’m convinced it is, not much or not necessarily because of practical repercussions, although being able to ask things and sustain a conversation without the need for a phone mediator is clearly empowering, but because it helps widening your mind, and by a good extent. Language is culture and it is history. Of course becoming fluent would help a lot with the two above ideas, but that’s not what I mean here - you don’t have to be fluent to enjoy how different languages may structure things differently or to see that grammatical concepts do not necessarily overlap 1:1 (and in fact, the farther apart the languages, the smaller the chances that they do). For example, Italian has a conditional mood for verbs, which German renders with Konjunktiv II; Mandarin Chinese does not “conjugate” verbs, or even have the same strict concept of a “verb” like in European languages.
You also don’t need to be fluent to make connections between words, explore possible common roots and intertwine the development of a language with the history of peoples who migrated, mixed, were conquered. Some languages don’t share the same alphabet or writing system, some do but with variations. Linguistics is fascinating and it follows the very human history itself - getting some familiarity with it is a wonderful way to embrace the complexity of humanity.
Study some maths
While on the topic of learning, learn mathematics. Maths powers a lot of things - we’d have no tech, no AI, no coding, no bridges and no bookkeeping without it. But we’d also struggle to understand much of the wonder of the world, like for instance how penguins find the most efficient configurations when battling a storm.
Maths is the ultimate logic-trainer. There’s just nothing else like it. Go to the basics, train your brain, it’ll help in so many ways. You don’t need to enroll at the university or buy expensive textbooks, you just need to have the curiosity and start small - there’s plenty of great, free and entertaining material online. Mathematics is powerful and it is beautiful and as many said, it is more often than not butchered when it is taught. It is a giant shame. However learning it does require focus and some effort. Is it hard? Yes, but the reward is huge. As they say, no pain, no gain - and this applies to pretty much anything in life.
Ask people, be painfully curious
When meeting someone that comes from the other side of the world, it is very easy to keep the conversation on the superficial level of the “oh great/oh I want to go there/oh I was there last year”. Go deeper, be curious (without being creepy of course!): ask them to recommend something, their favourite dish or one they don’t like, what do families and friends do when they spend social time together… get that texture, engage, learn.
It is true that the world is on fire right now, that consumerism has fully shown its ugly face, that places that prided themselves as the proverbial beacon of democracy (?) are turning autocratic, that we are all more digitally connected yet more actually lonely. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and it’s up to all of us to do something to keep educating ourselves, show kindness, connect with those different from us, be humble and learn. Maybe if more and more of us did this we’d naturally attract more people to do the same and we’d actually make a dent.