My Eyes Are Wide Open

Character is who you are in the dark.

Today we have so little darkness. Our world is lit up 24 hours a day; it’s transparent, with blogs and social networks broadcasting abuzz of a whole new generation of people that have made a choice to live their lives in public. It’s a lot more noisy world. So one challenge we have is to remember: oversharing—that’s not honesty. Our manic tweeting and texting can blind us to the fact that the subtleties in human decency—character, integrity—that’s what matters; that’s always what’s going to matter. So in this much noisier world it might make sense for us to be just a little bit more explicit about our moral code. When you combine the science of recognizing deception with the art of looking and listening you exempt yourself from collaborating in a lie, you start up that path of being just a little bit more explicit.

– PAMELA MEYER, DURING HER TED TALK