Removing default settings
About unlearning what I've learned, relearning, dismantling my prejudices, and breaking my habits.
Do you remember the days when we believed that Pluto was a planet, smoking was beneficial for health, and ulcers were a lifelong condition?
They etch these and similar 'facts' into our minds as if they are eternal truths, until scientists send us an updated tweet telling us that they are not.
It’s not just scientific “facts.” From the day we are born, in the school of life, beliefs, ideas, traditions, and customs are forcibly memorized as default settings. They accumulate like notes jotted down in a notebook.
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Among these notes are those dictated by societal pressure, those shaped by the geography we live in, and those written by teachers trying to assert their authority.
So, what happens when we start to realize that not all of our notes are valid? Do you have the ability to unlearn them? Can you forget what you’ve been taught and relearn, or do you stay tightly bound to the past?
As someone who is quite “stubborn-minded,” I’ve been trying to remove my “default factory settings” from my settings menu for a long time. I ask questions, challenge my assumptions, and try to understand whether my prejudices, habits, and thought patterns are actually valid. I read, listen, and watch from various different sources.
I’m trying to read different authors and topics that I’ve never picked up before. I have long been meeting brand-new people from all around the world in entrepreneurial interviews, listening to their experiences and perspectives.
When you have an engineering background, you look for scientific proof to change your ideas, which can be quite challenging, but I’m not afraid to change my views.
For instance, I became a "Vegan" in a very short amount of time in a way I would never have believed myself capable of. I asked these questions: Why is meat so central to our diet? Is this tradition about taste or a perceived nutritional necessity? And if we reset these culinary default settings—what can we gain in terms of health, sustainability, and ethical living?
While finding the answer, there were two variables: first, the scientific evidence, and second, the torture inflicted on animals. Once I understood how hypocritical humanity is about this, it didn’t take me a day to become vegan. After doing this, I realized that if I want, I can change the other “truths” imposed upon me.
To do this, I am trying to make it a habit to reevaluate and review my perceptions, learnings, and beliefs. I continuously ask questions to myself and look for the answers. I try not to take any information as fixed.
Lifelong learning brings with it the power to unlearn what you have learned whenever you want.