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Breaking out of the matrix 1

The matrix is all around you.

From consumerism to groupthink...it is all around you.

At work, it is there at the watercooler. In life, it is on Facebook and other social media. It is there in meetings. It is there in convention and ideas. It is there everywhere. It is the matrix.

Take consumerism for example...

They all say, be yourself. See the ads for any product. They are all the same - from insurance to

Do this, do that. Buy me to be happy.

Try this to be happy - while telling you that happiness is not in the buying - it is in the experience - and slyly selling you experiences on the side.

In Home Sapiens, the author terms this as romantic consumerism - and it is funny that those who espouse exactly this are often at the pinnacle of it as well...There is romance in consumption (of goods, experience, products, services).

There is a strong 'matrix' at work as well - from the organization culture to accepted behaviors and so on...In a good sense it is the culture, in a not-so-good sense it is the matrix of groupthink...

What then, is breaking out of the matrix? I don't know for now :)

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