Ignorance is a Choice

My biggest pet peeve the past few years has been the prevalence of cognitive biases and the general lack of critical thinking skills in most (myself included). [1] This is one reason for the creation of this blog. Yes, I’m an autistic nerd, but hear me out.

Cognitive Biases and Critical Thinking

In the past few years I have been studying several serious or intellectual subjects and disciplines (Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Religion, Aristotelean/Scholastic metaphysics, etc.) and I have found that critical thinking skills are essential in understanding and assessing information objectively and without bias, at least, as much as is humanly possible in separating the wheat from the chaff.

In doing this, I have read some material on cognitive biases, critical thinking and logic as philosophical disciplines require knowledge of logic, etc. Doing this has shown me the value of this and helped me to recognize these biases in myself and help me develop some critical thinking skills (hopefully). It has also made me more aware of others’ cognitive biases and lack of critical thinking skills. This isn’t just academic. See next post.

Freedom of Information, Thought, and Speech

The above meme may be true, but the availability of information on all subjects must be freely available and not censored for this to work. It does no good to investigate a subject with the best critical thinking skills in the world and no cognitive biases (dream on) if there is no information available, or if some information is censored for political or other reasons. In that case, “In the age of the internet” ignorance could be a result of information being withheld. Which is why I am a firm believer in both free speech and critical thinking (philosophy with insights from social psychology on cognitive biases).

If the information is freely available and accessible (the “age of the internet”) on these and any other subjects, I’m not too concerned about false information, “fake news,” “conspiracy theories,” etc. misleading people. As long as people have: 

1. Basic critical thinking skills to analyze claims and arguments,
2. Knowledge of, and desire to recognize and overcome cognitive biases (no small task here!), 
3. A desire to learn and grow with an open mind and heart, and
4. At least an average or thereabouts IQ for most subjects.

That’s not asking too much is it?

We Are Told What to Think, Not How to Think

The problem here is, critical thinking is not a subject taught in our education system in the US. Unless you go to a University and study Philosophy and the like (The sciences, being an offshoot of philosophy, has some critical thinking methods embedded into it’s methods for example). Otherwise, as the saying goes, “we are told what to think, not how to think” (critically) for ourselves.

So unfortunately, you may have to educate yourself on this. I will post several YouTube videos, articles, book reviews, and my own thoughts on cognitive biases and critical thinking to help you get up to speed on the basics (for those who are new to it) before we look more seriously at various subjects. These again, I believe, are critical or at least useful knowledge and skills to have before studying any subject. I only claim to know some of the basics here myself. I am currently studying the subject more seriously. Which is another reason I will be posting on this to begin with – it’s one of the subjects I’m currently focused on.

In any case, the choice to know, and develop critical thinking skills will be yours.

Expand your thinking, expand your life.

[1] I’m not saying those who lack such skills are dumb or stupid or can’t think critically (unlike intellectually superior me!), just that they are not skills that most have developed. Mainly because people are not taught such skills in school and thus haven’t learned anything about it. Everyone is born predisposed to numerous cognitive biases. No one is born with the critical thinking skills to help overcome them and thus understand others and to analyze their arguments as objectively and accurately as possible. I believe they are skills that can be learned at least to some degree by anyone.

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