Society Is a Symphony
And that symphony needs more conductors
We’re all aware that stress can lead to major health problems, and yet the epidemic of burnout is only getting worse. I believe the problem is a failure of communication.
Here’s a metaphor to explain:
Society is a symphony. It has movements, layers, and a diverse array of musicians. Every inhabitant is a player who is expert in their own instrument, but only gets the music for their individual part. The most efficient way to prevent chaos is to have a conductor who sees the whole score. She has the skill to analyze the score. She understands the ensemble well enough to find an interpretation supported by the analysis that accounts for the nature of the many diverse sections and how they work together. And she knows how to communicate the relationships between and among all the parts so they can cooperate to create the most meaningful music. Without clear communication and understanding of the whole score and the ensemble, all we get is discord.
Instead of a single conductor analyzing the score, interpreting the music, and communicating with everyone, we have scientists who work to analyze the metaphorical score, government officials who set policy to tell us how to play, and writers who work to explain it to the rest of us. This is where the failure in communication happens.
The problem is that writers and government officials don’t have the training to interpret hard data. Ironically, meanwhile, academic training makes scientists worse at communicating with the rest of us. In between, we need folks with enough training to understand and interpret original research with rigorous integrity, the understanding of society to discern how the research could be applied to policy for the good of all, and the communication skills to explain it in a variety of ways so that we all understand it no matter what our learning style. Anyone who has pursued higher education knows that excellent teaching is not common among professors. Instead, the more specialized our expertise becomes, the worse we are at communicating with novices. The skill of science communication is rare and precious. The ability to connect the scientific conclusions to social policies that actually help people is even more rare.
Most attempts at science communication fail. Documentaries, essays, and articles tend to be biased and inaccurate – because humans have bias that is rooted deeply in our evolution. Even the science itself suffers from bias, even when scientists try to control for it. Bias helped us survive as a species, teaching us not to trust strangers who might be dangerous to our tribe. Going back to my symphony metaphor, we used to live only in sections. Violins only lived with other violins, trumpets with trumpets. Maybe the trumpets would accept a trombone, but no trombone would be tolerated by the violins, just as the trumpets would reject a cello. That system worked well enough to keep us alive until communication enabled the world to be connected on a much larger scale.
Today we participate in global communities, creating grand and complex music. Now, our ancient fear of others has become a barrier to the making a diverse community safe and just for everyone.
So, we are missing all three things: scientists with the skill to communicate their findings to non-specialists, someone with the ability to apply the science to society in ways that are beneficial to more inhabitants than just the people who are like themselves, and lawmakers who can understand and interpret facts and evidence without bias.
I doubt we’ll ever have a conductor-like system where the leadership comes with thorough knowledge and skill. After all, a musical ensemble is a closed system with a short-term goal. But a highly skilled ensemble can get by without a conductor when all the musicians follow a different leader: the music itself.
The secret to ensemble-music making is that the conductor isn’t really in charge. The conductor is just a bridge between the music and the humans performing it. Her presence is a shortcut for the players, but she is not the source of their inspiration. We’re all just there for the music. Not just the violin’s music; not just the trumpet’s music. The whole symphony.
For a society, our “symphony” is justice and safety for all. We’re all doing the best we can with the resources we’ve been given. But it’s easy to forget that the symphony requires us to listen to and honor the value the other sections. And without a conductor to remind us of that, how do we accomplish it?
The solution is to listen to the other sections. In real-life practice this looks like listening to the stories of people who have lived experiences that are different from yours. Assume they their stories are valid and true. They’re part of the symphony. Their instruments may be very different from yours, but they’re in the ensemble.
So, if you ever wonder if an article about some new research is a valid interpretation of the data, or if an elected representative is describing it accurately, listen to the people who have lived that experience. This can change how much journalists and politicians get to shape the narrative around social justice and wellness issues, and take power away from bigots and corporations, and give it back to people.
-Amelia
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