Fending off confirmation bias

One of the most disturbing things about modern life is how easy it has become to surround ourselves with opinions that reinforce what we already believe. The technology we use has a tendency to lock us into a world in which we not only don't consider alternate opinions but often don't even hear them.

Log into a social media platform and its algorithm records what you click, tracking the things it believes matter most to you. Then it feeds you more of the same. Chat with your AI application of choice and it begins learning from the questions you ask. Over time, it starts tailoring information based on what it believes you want.

Technology isn't alone in shaping that narrative. The people with whom we choose to associate, the things we read and the places we spend our time all contribute to a profile that can reinforce what we already believe. Before long, we're caught in the confirmation bias cycle, deciding what is true based largely on opinions we've already formed.

That cycle seems to be getting stronger. Too often, we've stopped listening long enough to genuinely consider ideas that exist outside our own bubble.

That's why I wasn't surprised by what unfolded at this week's Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Commissioners were certainly owed an update from the developers behind Project Jupiter, but as soon as the presentation appeared on the agenda, word spread quickly. Proponents and opponents packed the chamber, not to listen with open minds, but to voice positions they had largely settled long before the meeting began. Confirmation bias was on full display.

I'm in the middle of researching the data center project for a comprehensive report that I hope will educate and inform. The challenge isn't finding opinions. It's separating fact from interpretation.

I receive a significant volume of commentary from both sides, and we publish nearly all of it, except submissions that venture into demonstrably false claims or personal attacks instead of discussing the issues. At this point, though, I'm not sure either side is trying to persuade the other. The loudest voices often seem firmly entrenched.

In the middle of all that, I continue to have the privilege of talking with remarkable people, and this past week was no exception.

In today's edition, we feature a story about Come From Away, which opens soon at Las Cruces Community Theatre. Director Katalina Hadfield told me she chose the musical because she wanted audiences to experience a different perspective, not because the world has become less complicated, but because she believes we all need reminders of "what people are capable of when they choose generosity over suspicion."

I also spent time with new New Mexico State women's basketball coach Adeniyi Amadou while working on a story for our upcoming NMSU sports magazine. It didn’t surprise me when he compared coaching to journalism, the subject he studied in college.

"You have to understand people's stories, and the more you do that, the better relationship you have with them, the more likely they are to grow around you and you to grow around them," he said. "...because we understand the world in terms of stereotypes, I think it's a reflex for us to continuously assume things. When you shed that kind of reflex or habit and try to understand where people are from, who they are, then it teaches you to learn that really you didn't know."

Whether it's Project Jupiter or any of the countless issues dividing our country, I still believe there's hope if we're willing to do something that's become surprisingly difficult: talk to one another and, more importantly, listen with genuine intent to people whose opinions differ from our own.