{"id":2,"date":"2020-02-05T17:20:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.informationworkshop.org\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2023-12-28T17:26:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T17:26:38","slug":"sample-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.informationworkshop.org\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Information Workshop<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Information Interface \u2022 Human Connection \u2022 The Art of the Explanation<\/span><\/h4>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“Confusion<\/b>\u00a0is the scourge of the 21st century.”
– Markus Halvorson<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Confusion is caused by<\/b> oversimplification, being gaslighted, our own cognitive biases that confuse us, the fallacies others use to confuse us, the trap of conventional thinking, traditions, shame (causing changes in our behavior to avoid the the potential loss of connection with others), altered states of consciousness (alcohol, drugs, horniness, anger, depression, etc), an education on any topic that’s “haphazard, incomplete and out-of-sequence,” peer pressure, complexity, typecasting people instantly by the way they look, further fooled by the “masks” people wear, people typecasting you incorrectly, the news and media, movies & TV shows, social media, politicians, advertisements, clickbait, those with closed-loop minds, and relationships. Did I forget anything? And a\u00a0scourge<\/strong> is a thing that causes great trouble.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This site is pretty much my About Markus Halvorson<\/i><\/strong> page, and Information Workshop<\/i><\/strong> is the name of the consulting company I’ve owned for over 30 years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

What follows below includes what I’m currently up to, some things I’ve done, and a bit of my ancient history.<\/span><\/p>

I’m what people would refer to as a polymath –\u00a0<\/b>someone who has a wide variety of skills that can be used together to produce remarkable results. Background knowledge is an essential component of strong critical thinking skills and I have strong backgrounds in psychology, human sexuality, aviation, physics and astrophysics, website creation, social media, communication skills, teaching, public speaking and lecturing, videography, writing, brotherhood, spirituality (non-religious), personal development, print graphics\/computer graphics\/comic graphics, Information Interface, computer hardware and software deisgn, physical fitness, nutrition… all to the point where I can speak confidently in all these areas.<\/span><\/p>

In retrospect, now having just turned 70 years old, I can say that I only know how to blaze trails and work on things that have never been done before. And it’s also clear that my work seems to be centered on my deep desire to make things simpler, easier to understand and less confusing.\u00a0Simplicity allows us to rise to a higher level of accomplishment given the fixed amount of time and effort we each have<\/i><\/b>. Life gets a bit easier as a result.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Information Interface<\/b> is similar to “user interface” in computers in that it’s the study of how we humans interact with information. The objective is to help make our interaction with information (here in the information age) as friction-free as possible.\u00a0 When we ignore the rules of\u00a0<\/span>information<\/span>\u00a0interface everything gets messy and confusing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

And as for me, if I may humbly say so myself, I have a big heart, I’m a big teddy bear, I love to laugh, very affectionate, I look after everyone around me, I love showing people things they haven’t seen or thought of before, and I can’t have too many connections and friendships with other people (which is what the animated connecting lines above represent).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Here are some of the things I’m working on…\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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21st Century Man Handbook<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"Men helping men get fit in all 12 areas of life so the best in life shows up for us<\/strong><\/em> is our motto that explains it all. This is a planet-wide effort by men to elevate the lives of all men. I’m the creator of the handbook that’s at the center of this effort.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The handbook\u00a0takes a very 21st century approach, presses the reset button and leaves behind the things that don’t serve us, and for the first time structures both the best existing resources and a lot of new resources to give all men significantly greater traction with whatever it is they’re up to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

This is the antidote to the massive confusion men suffer from without needing to see ourselves as broken and needing to be fixed. Instead it takes a fitness approach to all areas of life that provides immediate results in the same way that going to the gym does for our bodies.<\/span><\/p>

Once a man checks out what’s happening here, he will see clearly what’s been missing!\u00a0 It’s quite surprising, fun and compelling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

It’s ancient wisdom that whatever it is, we can’t do it alone<\/b>\u00a0so us guys are helping each other get fit in all areas of our lives, together<\/b><\/i>, by tapping into the powerful force of brotherhood as we do in the military, sports teams, fraternities, etc.<\/span><\/p>

The site is currently transitioning to a new and final version at 21cMan.org<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Clear Thinking Campaign<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"Since confusion is the scourge of the 21st century<\/b>, and we got a heavy dose of it in 2020 with the pandemic and the American president at the time, there’s only one antidote.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason confusion has taken such a stronghold is that the general population is ill-equipped to handle it. The gap between the increasing complexity and purposeful confusion in the world, and the general public’s ability to deal with it, is increasing exponentially.  What to do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Critical Thinking Skills were born 2,500 years ago thanks to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many others. But these skills still haven’t made their way into the general population and they remain stuck in academia. There’s no reason for this.  (We do know that those in power love that the population can be swayed emotionally more than by logic and reason.)<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time, someone, me, is making an attempt to get Critical Thinking Skills the last mile<\/i>, into the homes and minds of the general population so that all of us can more easily sort out the confusion and gain more traction in our lives.  What are the things that make this possible?<\/span><\/p>\n

What we can do is make it a team sport – family, friends, relatives, co-workers. And keep it simple. And we do everything in our power to not make people feel like they’re in school.  So we call it “Clear Thinking” and make it a campaign like a political campaign – with a goal in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the field of Critical Thinking Skills I’m just shy of being at the expert level and have been studying and practicing hard for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m also an educator and expert in the area of Information Interface – making complicated things understandable and usable by all of us. We’re all smart enough but we’re also very busy, and skill-building takes repeated effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ClearThinkingCampaign.org<\/b><\/a> website is a project that I’m working on to get everyone involved.  It utilizes something we all do 24\/7 when we “Learn By Noticing.”  All we have to do is get people to notice these 12 things happening around them (pictured above) and talk about them with the people around them and they’ll help each other learn the basics of critical thinking skills without even being aware of it.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Website Development<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I think I created my first website in the late 90’s. Boy have things gotten so much better!\u00a0 I create all my WordPress websites from scratch using Elementor\u00a0 and other tools like that. My website designs are all unique.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Click the links below to check them out.\u00a0 (They’ll open in a new tab\/window.)<\/span><\/p>