Created: 2025/1/21
Last Edited: 2025/1/21
It's the opposite of a privacy policy. Well, the opposite of most privacy policies.
Some people think I'm incapable of keeping secrets. It's hard for them to imagine that my openness is intentional, or that it has taken years of deliberate practice to cultivate.
The more secrets I keep, the harder it is for me to connect disparate ideas together and engage in lateral thinking. Especially because I think best by speaking, discussing, or writing (often public writing).
It's hard to perceive the benefits of openness, but it is easy to perceive the harm caused by a betrayal or misuse of information. Similarly, trusting people has lots of benefits, but being betrayed once in fifty times can make it hard to keep trusting people, even though it's been a consistently winning bet (and will continue to be so).
If I approach someone expecting to be betrayed or lied to, I make that more likely to happen. If I approach someone with trust by default, I make it more likely that they will want to honour that trust.
It might be hard sometimes, but it's worth putting in the effort to keep trusting people, and to keep sharing helpful information freely. Most of the time, it's extremely rewarding and fulfilling.