Acknowledging Cultural Dissonance in Exchange for a Colossal Opinion

“Being innovative as well as social in 2020 is like a desert safari where food chains are non-existent.”

- Laurence Wingo

This Guide to Acknowledging Cultural Dissonance in Exchange for a Colossal Opinion is written as a way to reinforce as well as question the knowledge gained in the Human Learning and Development program at Georgia State University. We’ve focused on memory and cognition as well as ethics in artificial intelligence. This article is an extended interpretation of how international lifelong learners have responded to uncomfortable situations by developing a cognitive learning process which includes the concept of cultural dissonance to appropriately judge any casual experience.

Let’s first start by discussing the bravery it takes to place our own head into the lion’s mouth which is sometimes our own subconscious mind and reflect upon the definition of “culture”. The intention here is to show that there are benefits to understanding how the term “culture” is formed over time and unique to each individual. Cross-cultural psychology research within the Culture and Psychology Journal discusses how individuals provide several definitions for the word “culture” which are logically and substantively incompatible.

Individual concepts vary based on how each person defines culture by using a different set of keywords based their individual experiences. For example we could ask ourselves, what is culture? Is culture a geographical area…is culture a virtue of membership to a social group? Is culture a pattern? Is the concept of culture an art-form? Is culture a complex whole but also a part of an integrated system? Is culture knowledge? Is culture a derivative of casual experiences in one area? Most importantly, how can we use cultural dissonance to persist with believing in our own innovative ideas or colossal opinions?

The takeaway from these questions analyzes whether knowledge of cultural dissonance can help educate early serial entrepreneurs facing fear, guilt, and shame for not fitting into a “culture”. As open-source contributors, we have a duty to produce innovative ideas and abstract products that are outside of the easily accepted social norm. Most importantly, our role as a serial entrepreneur or open-source contributor is to augment the human experience. As a reader, hopefully this article will peak your own personal interest to rely on the concept of cultural dissonance when you are concerned with imposter syndrome or rejected by the general public on your first try. Feel free to define your own idea of what culture is or should be which produces a colossal opinion in its own right.

To conclude, misinterpretations of our own existence can causes us overthink or overemphasize any given situation. Cross-cultural psychology research has shown that acknowledging cultural dissonance can produce persistent innovation. Learning to courageously thrive, adapt, or create “culture” in your own way is a colossal opinion in itself which could spark the next person.

In this picture below, what do you see? Do you see the tree of life or two separate species of animals prepared to face-off with one another? Being innovative as well as social in 2020 is like a desert safari where food chains are non-existent. I hope this article helps fellow open-source contributors using their skills to break outside of the box and augment the human experience.