Sean Sullivan

Sean is a local writer and fitness guru.  His work can be found at “Interview With An Introvert”  Here is one of his pieces:

The Real Mind Virus
Mistrust Has Become a Malicious Meme
Sean Sullivan
Dec 03, 2024

I sometimes manage a sad smile hearing a certain friend of mine complain about the weather.

It isn’t that the temperature or snow is falling outside our windows, though she’s not a fan of those things either.

No, it’s the forecast she’s really picky about. Should the weather deviate much from what’s been predicted, this is evidence to her that meteorology might as well be astrology.

“They don’t know,” I’ve heard her say like a mic drop. By “they” in this context, she means meteorologists. Some will dismiss this as merely a throwaway phrase, just something harmless to say when chatting about the weather. I disagree.

I see it as a sad symptom of mistrust—that malicious software that’s running on the brains of too many of our fellow humans these days.

You’ve heard it said that love makes the world go around, or maybe that money does the trick. But trust is the real secret sauce keeping this whole society thing spinning.

Behind the wheel of our cars, we trust that oncoming traffic won’t swerve headlong into us. I imagine most people never thought of driving that way—as a daily, ongoing exercise in trust. But that’s what it is. Without that faith in our fellow humans, society as we know it comes to a screeching halt.

Opening a refrigerator door means opening ourselves to trust. We have confidence that the food we’re about to eat and serve to loved ones won’t do us harm. Countless hands come in contact with food before it arrives at our plates. What would dinnertime look like if we didn’t have some trust in this process?

Sometimes things go wrong, it’s true. Fatal car accidents and food poisoning happen every day. So why shouldn’t we be mistrustful?

One of our flaws as beings is that we often fail to appreciate when things go smoothly, consistently according to plan. Try to recall the last time you felt gratitude for a weather forecast that hit the bullseye. A sunny day was predicted, and your family spent that wonderful afternoon at the beach.

You’ll likely remember the day’s highlights, the ocean, the food, a funny moment. You may have even been thankful for those things. But was there also an instant of gratitude given for the people and science behind weather forecasting? Probably not.

On the other hand, when events take a downward turn, we tend to inscribe the slight on the inside of our skulls for future reference. They said it was going to be a beach day and it rained for an hour at noon. They don’t know.

Don’t they?

Here’s the real track record for modern meteorology. Forecasts seven days out tend to be about 80% accurate. Between three and five days out, they get it right about 90% of the time. Predicting the weather for tomorrow usually yields a hit with 96% to 98% accuracy. What else in this life can you consistently predict with such numbers?

This bias of our brains to discount sustained success, and focus so intently on occasional failure, makes us vulnerable to irrational mistrust.
If there truly is a “mind virus” going around, one that threatens our collective human project, it’s this one. Mistrust is malware that affects the way we interact with the world and each other; it spreads to and infects all corners of our civilization.

I’ll note here that it’s not just the weather service my friend is overly and overtly wary of; she’s also a vocal vaccine skeptic.
It seems we’re about to run a nationwide experiment, one in which mistrust (real or mimed) plays a major governing role. There’s the mistrust of climate scientists. Of public education and modern medicine. Ours may soon devolve into a government whose core principle is—a mistrust of government.
These, you’ll notice, are no small matters. They are just a few of the foundational pillars that keep civilization propped up.

“Our distrust,” said Emerson, “is very expensive.”

Social media sucks people into the mistrust pipeline, and the flow sadly seems to go in one direction only. If you’re looking for a video to confirm your latest theory or suspicion, you’ll find it for sure (followed by ten more).

Indeed, folks with a chronic case of Mistrust Mind Virus seem to cultivate their concerns like a hobby.

Like building a ship in a bottle, they obsess over every detail of their growing cynicism. It’s a perverse pastime they can chat about with fellow enthusiasts and skeptics. That’s how this MMV falls upon my ears—as a glorified form of gossip, one that too many people come to quote as gospel.

But none of us live in bottles (or bubbles), despite those who think or would wish it so. There’s a whole world outside those spheres of skepticism, one where living means trusting.
Beyond boundaries of that metaverse of mistrust, commuters by the many millions

arrive home safely every day. Countless families have dinner together and live to eat another day.

People with MMV drive on the same highways as the rest of us, shop in the same supermarkets. Sunny and rainy days are predicted all over the world, and then come to pass. Here in the real world, what’s the alternative to trust?

Something else to consider: we are not meant to be passive watchers of what transpires outside our windows, like children complaining about a rainy day. Our institutions take the shape we mold them into. If flaws are what you find, then many more hours spent fixing, and far fewer misused in mistrusting, is the adult answer.

So what is the right balance to strike? When and how much should we trust, and when is skepticism warranted?

“You may be deceived if you trust too much,” said minister and author Frank Crane, “but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough.”
Personally, I’m willing to be deceived (disappointed is a better word) on occasion, so long as things go well the rest of the time. That’s life. But I refuse to tolerate the many torments guaranteed by a mindset of mistrust. That’s a choice.

Finding fault as a mental default is a very depressing and disempowering way to live out our short years on this earth. Griping and gossip feel free but cost us dearly. Gratitude feels like work but is actually freedom in disguise.

I think our trusty weather service is a good model for how we should judge. They get it right the vast majority of the time. A sustained history of accurate forecasts is fuel for a durable trust—the kind that shouldn’t be washed away by a surprise rainstorm every now and then.

There are many other domains of our civilization that have likewise earned and deserve our sturdy trust. Medicine, infrastructure, air travel, electricity… Perhaps some perspective and appreciation are in order.

Such a mindset is effective antivirus software we can install in our brains; it’s a way of thinking that’s an antidote to mistrust. We put on our critical thinking caps, and see that things go right in this world far more often than we’re in the habit of admitting.

If infallibility of institutions is what you expect, if perfection in people is your standard, then you’ve come to the wrong universe.
So, I’ll use common sense and check the weather forecast when planning a picnic or trip to the beach. And on the way there, I’ll keep my eyes on the road instead of scanning skies for dark clouds rolling in.

I’ll also bring an umbrella and backup plan, just in case.