Jinn

Critical Thinking 101 (RFL - REALLY FUCKIN' LONG)

What IS Critical Thinking?

Also:
Now you might be thinking-- JinnKai, what's your deal? Why are you defining Critical Thinking? Well, my fellow TFP friends, I'll tell you why. But first, I must apologize if I offend anyone with the content of this post; its quite "off-the-cuff" and a rather vehement response to recent encounters.

Critical Thinking is easily, without a doubt, the most important skill to develop throughout your entire life. If you could devote all of your time and energy to become the best intellectually "actualized" person you could be, it would be through developing your Critical Thinking skills. For those of you skilled in Critical thinking, you've likely come up with the obvious objection: surely there are skills more worthy of devoting your time to?

There are hundreds of millions of worthwhile skillsets to learn in the world, but Critical Thinking is critical to them, in my opinion. There is no skillset that cannot benefit from a solid understand of Critical Thinking. Through Critical Thinking, you can save yourself from hours, days, even years of effort -- you can improve your relationships, your sex life, and your intelligence. You can become a more well-rounded, caring, diverse, respectful human being. You can enjoy the benefits that this knowledge provides, you and most importantly you can be proud that you've lived a life clear of delusion. Sounds almost like a drug, doesn't it? I mean surely I can't make a claim like this without giving some sort of evidence, or examples? TFP -- you asked, and I delivered.

So, JinnKai: How can Critical Thinking bring about all of these amazing benefits to my life? I challenge you to give me an example where Critical Thinking could NOT benefit you. A simple exercise of logic and doubt can remove a great deal of superstition, hatred, anger, and ignorance. QUESTION EVERYTHING. Questioning everything we are provided with is the most important bastion that supports Critical Thinking. Remember that time your mom told you that swimming right after eating would give you cramps and cause you to die? Look it up. Find out -- is it true? Could it be deadly? Should I be worried? All of these concerns will quickly dissapear as you become more educated in the processes at work. You'll learn what cramps are, how they're caused, how swimming interacts with it, and more. You'll become a much more intelligent person, simply from asking this simple question. Now imagine if you extended this to everything in your life. We only use 10% of our brain power everyday, imagine if you used the other 90% of it for Critical Thinking.

Aha! Now, see.. your Critical Thinking should have kicked in on that last sentence. We only use 10% of our brains, JinnKai? Are you sure? In researching this interesting fact, you'd determine that it is a complete fabrication, and you might even learn about the intricate processes that occur in your brain every second. DOUBT EVERYTHING. This does not mean you have to distrust your friends, or your family, or even disagree with them. There is a finite balance between being a know-it-all and actually knowing-it-all. If you suspect someone is not telling the truth, or they are simply ignorant of the facts -- you don't have to correct them. Just do your research, study their claim, and make a rational conclusion. They might've been right! Even if they are, you've just now added another section to your ever-growing knowledge base. In the paragraphs above, I mentioned how Critical Thinking can improve your sex life, your relationships, and even make you a more caring person. How did racism and genocide come about? Ignorance. People were willing to denigrate an entire race due to ignorance about their abilities. "Black people are dirty." A simple bit of research into this matter could delve you into hormones and glandular studies. It might even create interest in you to research the matter more: physiological race differences, how odors effect relationships (pheremones) or any of the related topics. Only by DOUBTING EVERYTHING would you come to realize the ignorance of a racist position. Tolerance goes hand-in-hand with Critical Thinking. Your sex life -- having trouble performing? Research the anatomy and physiology of sex; maybe it's something you've eaten, maybe its a drug reaction.. maybe its the booze. These are all things you can learn and ramify, but only if you're incredulous about them in the first place. I cannot stress enough: DOUBT EVERYTHING.

Phishing attempts, the largest "internet crime," are perpetrated simply because people do not exercise Critical Thinking. How do I know this? Because the littlest bit of doubt; "Hmm.. this doesn't look legitimate. It's riddled with spelling errors and its not my banks web address" would have prevented the occurance. If someone tells you somet, asks you something, claims something is true, claims the law says so, claims you only have certain rights, claims.. the list goes on; DOUBT THEM.


I'd be unfair to tell you to doubt everything I and others say without giving you a basis of places to begin your rsearch. If you run into a common myth, like that of "swimming after eating" or "10% of your brain" -- www.snopes.com. They've perfected Critical Thinking, and look to MANY sources for the information. If you're not sure about a drug or a phrase or a word.. use www.google.com or www.dictionary.com. If you don't know a word, look it up. You'll be that much more enriched. Unsure about your religious beliefs? Question them. Read all the relevant religious texts. Ask your friends, ask your neighbors, consult the encyclopedia. Look at history, look at anything you can. The more resources you view, the more likely you are to have a stronger viewpoint. Unsure about your political beliefs? Question them. Read the laws. Look up the words if you have to -- but make sure you understand what they can and CAN't DO. Make sure you know the punishments, the enforceability, and the rationale. DOUBT EVERYTHING.

Ok JinnKai -- I made it this far, so you better have a good conclusion. I can't really stress enough that you should DOUBT EVERYTHING. If there's something suspect in my post, look it up. Tell me about it so that I, too, can learn. If you see another post that makes you wonder; research it. Find other sources, look up words... think about it, and read others' posts before replying. DOUBT WHAT YOU SEE, WHAT YOU HEAR, WHAT YOU LEARN. Albert Einstein did not develop his theory of relativity because he believed the current theories. He doubted that it could be true, so he did his own research. Newton, Copernicus, the names go on -- but they have one thing in common; THEY DOUBTED EVERYTHING. I realize that many of you (if you've made it this far) might think that I'm preaching to the choir: but that is inherently not true by reading a few posts on TFP. The "random fact" threads are littered with facts that people have adopted, beside their complete untruth. A simple google search would have remedied their misguided ways.

Ok -- so now that I've hopped down from my soapbox, I'd like this to be a little more than a horribly long exploration of Critical Thinking. So -- I ask you, TFP:


Please reply and offer your own insight into this thread, because it's likely just become the most important 'message' I hope to spread. Ignorance abounds, curtailed quickly by a lesson in Critical Thinking.

Do you think you're a Critical Thinker?
Do you think JinnKai is a douchebag with a complex?
Would you benefit from thinking more critically?
What do YOU think Critical Thinking should mean?
Do you see a flaw in critical thinking, beyond being labelled a "skeptic" ?
Is "doubting everything" a realistic viewpoint for the current world?
Do you wish more people were Critical Thinkers?
If so, what can you do to make people analyze what they're hearing, saying, and doing?

(damn, I should really get back to work..)

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel