Shall we agree not to disagree?

The first magazine I worked for called JS closed down without warning at 10 am one morning in July 1977 Its current issue was already being printed in the basement of The Statesman newspaper Calcutta when top management sent an order to stop the machines A perfectly normal working day turned in a minute into the chilling inexplicable end of a beloved job in an unforgettable magazineMaybe this is why I have an aversion to surprises I also assume that like Don Corleone you insist on hearing bad news immediately In that spirit Irsquod like to share with you dear and faithful reader that next weekrsquos column of IMHO will be the last You are reading my 411th column and my secondlast one just five weeks shy of eight years After just one more I will disappear in a puff of smokeLast weekrsquos column imagined a world where a new pandemic virus infected everyone and turned them into wonderful human beings full of kindness honesty peace nonviolence and goodwill Best of all they all shared a single mind everyone knew everything like having a ChatGPT in your head and no thoughts were secret any more It was a truly equal world without crime wars or hate I asked readers if they would choose to get immunised against this virus if a vaccine were availableOf the many readers who wrote long letters back to me about nine in 10 said they would get the vaccine They did not want to become benign peaceful and loving persons even if that would end every evil on the planetLetrsquos talk about Bombai Click the QR code above to join my WhatsApp group to share your Bombai stories for my bookmdashand perhaps answer some of my Bombai questionsI was baffled So many spend their energy either talking about or fighting for a better city a better country or a better world mdash and yet if their wishes came true they would say ldquoI was just joking Please press Rewind and give me the old world backrdquoSome of them seemed concerned that if all problems disappeared and humans became wonderful we wouldnrsquot have anything left to do Wersquod die of boredomMy column was inspired by a riveting drama series released by Apple TV a few weeks ago Plur1bus which explores exactly this scenario but from the perspective of a small handful of people who are naturally immune to the virus and do not turn into kind and loving peopleAll this got me thinking If we are to live in this messedup evil world we should understand why people fight The answer which came quite quickly is that we fight because we disagree with each other India and Pakistan have locked horns since Independence because they disagree about borders Couples fight sometimes divorce because they disagree about this or that trivial matter We have racism and gender inequality because those who believe everyone is equal disagree with those who believe a few are superiorCan we can human beings possibly learn to deal intelligently and kindly with disagreement Wouldnrsquot that end violence and hate and give us cooler headsThe world has one outstanding example of one giant entirely voluntary organisation that has been dealing successfully with disagreements arguments knowledge misinformation truth and lies for 24 years Itrsquos called WikipediaSince it was started in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger Wikipedia the worldrsquos largest free encyclopaedia has evolved into a model for human collaboration in search of the truth The English version has 708 million articles and 15 billion page views every month Wikipediarsquos approach to presenting all kinds of information with rigorous respect and neutrality has made it so powerful that even AI chatbots like ChatGPT are trained using its data In a world of alternative facts personal truths and outright fake news Wikipedia with humility tells us what is most likely to be the truth With all its imperfections and neverending selfscrutiny Wikipedia is so trusted that many politicians want to bring it down claiming that it is a leftwing liberal tool Some rightwingers call it WokeipediaBut anyone regardless of politics may make an edit on Wikipedia including you You will not be the last word anyone else can correct you and you can respond Others can mdash and will mdash join the discussion Your lsquofactsrsquo will be weighed against othersrsquo lsquofactsrsquo by the worldwide community of voluntary editors who number about 260000 with about 40000 in English aloneWikipedia operates on the radical premise that people thinking and working together can determine whatrsquos true through reliable sourcing and methodical deliberationHowever among Wikipediarsquos many hundreds of definitions principles and guidelines one stands out for me perhaps because it is most often missing in human interactions Assume good faithThis means assuming that people are not deliberately trying to harm you even when their words or actions sound hurtful or cause harm If someone adds contentious or even damaging matter about a living person or event assuming good faith would mean saying ldquoThey probably just donrsquot understand Wikipediarsquos sourcing standardsrdquo and quietly making a correctionItrsquos a principle startling in its simplicity the best way to get closer to the truth and avoid a conflict is to assume the best about the person who disagrees with youIt has created the worldrsquos most trusted encyclopaediaYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper