Guarding Our Minds: Thinking Freely in a Noisy, Tangled World

Resisting Conformity with Curiosity and Resolve

By Sue Barrett

I came across this quote, its origin uncertain, but its insight invaluable:

“The world’s complexity and ambiguity can be unsettling. Resisting this confusion, however, leads to intellectual conformity, merely echoing the thoughts of others.”

This line lingered with me. It captures the tension many of us feel: a desire for clarity in a chaotic world versus the pull to conform for the sake of ease or belonging. It resurfaced for me recently as I noticed a growing wave of posts on X (formerly Twitter) from people pushing back against cloud storage platforms like OneDrive, seeking to reclaim control over their digital lives.

It made me pause and ask:

• How do we stay open and grounded when complexity overwhelms?
• How do we think for ourselves when so much of modern life nudges us to align with someone else’s version of truth?

What follows is an exploration of these questions from the perspectives of Carl Sagan, moral disengagement and tech overreach to mindset tools that help us stay curious, principled, and free.

The Ability to Think for Ourselves

Navigating today’s world feels like sifting through a storm of voices. Every day, we’re nudged – by algorithms, influencers, systems – to adopt a stance, pick a side, and mirror dominant narratives. This week alone, I’ve seen users on X pushing back against OneDrive. One wrote, “I’m not handing my files to OneDrive. I want them on my own drive, where I’m in charge.” Another quipped, “OneDrive’s ‘seamless’ cloud feels like a trap. My data, my rules.”

These aren’t just gripes about software. They’re expressions of agency in a world increasingly shaped by invisible hands. They reflect a yearning for autonomy – the right to choose how we engage with the digital and social structures around us.

For me, Carl Sagan’s voice rises like a lighthouse in this storm:

“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it’s a way of thinking, a way of sceptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.”

Sagan warned against the seduction of unchecked opinion – what he called “a kind of wishful thinking.” In contrast, the scientific mindset he championed asks us to follow the evidence wherever it leads and to question everything, even ourselves.

“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

In an age of viral disinformation and performative certainty, Sagan’s insistence on sceptical curiosity is not just useful – it’s vital.

The Quiet Trap of Moral Disengagement

So why do we still find ourselves falling in line? One answer lies in moral disengagement, a concept developed by renowned psychologist and professor of social science in psychology Albert Bandura to describe how people justify behaviour that contradicts their values.

Bandura identified eight mechanisms for Moral Disgengagement, from euphemistic language to displacement of responsibility, that allow us to shrug off ethical discomfort. In business, I’ve seen this when shortcuts are excused as “standard practice.” In tech, we hear: “Everyone uses the cloud – it’s fine.” But is it?

When I catch myself saying, “That’s just how things are,” I’ve learned to pause. What values am I overriding? What risks am I rationalising? That moment of inquiry helps me redirect toward integrity.

Cloud Fascism, Tech Giants, and the Neoliberal Legacy

The resistance to platforms like OneDrive points to something deeper than user preference. It’s part of a larger unease – a suspicion that control over our data, choices, and minds is slipping away. In her 10 May 2025 Guardian article, Can the term ‘cloud fascism’ help us understand – and resist – the hard right?, author Ece Temelkuran describes this phenomenon as “cloud fascism” – an invisible, atmospheric form of control that infiltrates our lives while remaining unaccountable. Unlike overt authoritarianism, it doesn’t bang on the door. It simply becomes the air we breathe.

In tech, this metaphor becomes reality. As Yanis Varoufakis puts it, cloud systems like OneDrive aren’t just tools; they’re extensions of digital feudalism. We are no longer owners but tenants, renting space in vast empires built by tech giants. Their “convenience” packages often come at the cost of privacy, autonomy, and choice.

I saw a post by @CloudDefender that summed this up brilliantly:

“OneDrive’s prompts are like a digital landlord. I’m keeping my files local.”

This isn’t just about software preferences. It’s a call for sovereignty – digital and personal.

It also connects back to an adage I first heard in the 1990s as neoliberalism began tightening its grip on society:

“Watch who you let near your mind.”

Neoliberalism sold us on freedom through deregulation and choice. What it delivered, however, was concentration – of wealth, power, and influence. It hollowed out public institutions, intensified inequality, and infused every sector with a short-term, profit-first logic. Tech giants have taken this to new extremes.

Microsoft’s seamless OneDrive integration into Windows, for instance, isn’t illegal. But it narrows our options, squeezing out smaller, privacy-respecting competitors. Amazon’s dominance in cloud infrastructure, controlling nearly a third of the global market, is another alarming case. And these monopolies don’t just limit competition.

As legal scholar Tim Wu points out:

“Monopolies don’t just stifle markets; they control the flow of ideas and power.”

Fighting this requires more than policy tweaks. It requires cultural resistance – making conscious, everyday choices that assert our values. Choosing local storage over the cloud. Supporting decentralised, open-source alternatives. Using privacy-focused platforms like Signal. These are not just technical decisions. They are political ones.

Mindsets for Clarity and Independence

So, how do we stay awake and discerning without becoming cynical or overwhelmed? Over time, I’ve developed five touchstones that help me stay grounded:

• Prioritise Evidence: Like Sagan, I follow the trail: Where’s the data? What’s the source? Persuasive arguments must still be interrogated.
• Value Diverse Perspectives: Whether from scientists or artists, technologists or dissenters, new voices enrich my thinking and challenge assumptions.
• Embrace Doubt Uncertainty is not failure. It’s where learning begins. As Sagan once said, “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” Doubt is the antidote to that pain.
• Act Against Overreach: Whether it’s choosing a USB stick over the cloud or switching to Signal, our choices send signals. Small actions ripple outward.
• Stay True to Your Values – and the Common Good: For me, fairness, honesty, and respect for others’ dignity are non-negotiable. When I feel tempted to follow the herd or choose convenience over principle, I pause and ask: Does this reflect not only what I believe in – but also what supports the wellbeing of others? That question keeps me grounded. It reminds me that freedom of thought is not just a personal act – it’s a contribution to a more ethical, inclusive, and human-centred world.

An Invitation

Referencing Carl Sagan may seem ironic – after all, this article urges independent thinking. But the goal here is not to venerate Sagan. It’s to channel the mindset he embodied: humble curiosity, fierce scepticism, and the courage to think clearly.

We live in a world shaped by failed promises and seductive conveniences. But we are not powerless. Every time we seek the truth over the trend, every time we choose principle over popularity, we take back a piece of ourselves.

So here’s my invitation: Next time the world feels noisy and uncertain, pause.

Ask yourself: What’s shaping this decision? Am I acting from my values or someone else’s script?

Maybe it means picking a privacy-respecting tool. Maybe it’s listening to someone you’d usually dismiss. These are quiet, radical acts. They help us reclaim the most precious terrain of all – our minds.

Onward we press

Resources

10 May 2025, The Guardian: Can the term ‘cloud fascism’ help us understand – and resist – the hard right? Ece Temelkuran

20 February 2019, Commonwealth Club World Affairs: Tim Wu: Inside Tech Monopolies

This article was originally published on Sue Barrett

 

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