Ch-ch-ch-changes.

[DanaC]

Has the Cellar changed you in any way? I ask because recently I was talking to a friend about the Cellar and I decided that I have changed quite a lot across the half decade of being a Dwellar.

I think I have mellowed. Quite a lot really. Certainly, I have mellowed on politics and religion. I am still a pinko heathen, but I have very little anger now for the other side to that equation. How much of that is my day to day interactions in the meatworld and how much is down to the Cellar I'm not wholly sure, but I think the Cellar is a huge factor. Long term friendship with people who have vastly differing world views is not something generally on offer in my day to day life. There's variance amongst my friends, but on the whole we exist along a fairly narrow spectrum.

Part of it is the recent work done in academia about the origins of political persuasions and moral frameworks. Once it becomes a matter of brain chemistry...how can I in any way place greater moral weight on my persuasion? Oh, don't get me wrong, I still think I am right, I still think they are wrong. I still find the right cold and unforgiving. I still see the left as more humane, more caring. But that doesn't mean people on the right are cold, nor that people on the left are caring.

That piece on TED about moral origins had a profound effect on me. It added to bits I'd read and seen and which had been floating around my head looking for a hook for a little while. The necessity for both. That took some serious thinking to get my head around, but it makes perfect sense. It still requires that both sides fight the other for the right to set the tone...but unless you're wacked out on the edges of that contest, there is little reason for the level of vitriol that generally purtains to it. It is, and this has surprised the fuck out of me, I do assure you, more than possible to maintain respect, liking and friendship across that chasm.

That last bit, is where the Cellar comes in. I have had friends of different political persuasions, but I don't think I ever understood their perspective like I do now.

So...has the Cellar changed you? If so, how?