The Neurodiverse Scientist
When we study a biological system, we form a hypothesis, apply some tools or protocols and then measure the results. If the results we record are not in line with our hypothesis, what do we do? E.g., we ask: was my hypothesis wrong? Did my tools or protocol not elicit the desired effect? Why not? Do we ever say," My hypothesis is correct, and the system I'm studying is wrong?". No, that would be unscientific.
Imagine that the biological system is another person:
Another brain that thinks, feels, and works in a completely different way compared to ourselves? If we are not going into the interaction with awareness, we form our hypothesis about the other based on how our own system is working. We perform our interaction, and when our hypothesis does not produce the desired results, we get very unscientific about it. We are more likely to claim that the other biological system is wrong than that our hypothesis is wrong.
This intuition pump raises awareness of how we work in default mode and highlights that awareness itself is something we need to bring into our interactions actively.
I hope that we start to pause in our interactions more often and ask ourselves, what are my assumptions really based on here? We know something is challenging our hypothesis (or expectations) when we feel irritated, uncomfortable, annoyed, or angry.
These emotions are signals of information and highly valuable for improving the well-being of our lives going forward. Emotions are great indicators of where wisdom and learning experiences are hiding! These are gift-puzzles; when we figure out how to solve them, our everyday well-being is improved.
