Current Events > Nothing will truly change in society until the majority become critical thinkers

(+) Yeah! (+)

IMO, our biggest enemy is the fact that as a whole, we're a poorly educated population (by design, of course) that's taught to be mindlessly obedient over skeptical and curious.

This root problem affects virtually everything about our culture. It's why people vote for race & gender over policy & competence; it's why people still don't believe in evolution; it's why people think highly processed foods are healthy so long as they say "low-fat"; it's why people think it's mandatory to spend at least 3 months worth of rent on a wedding ring; it's why people still trust mainstream media, despite that it's owned by wealthy elites who manipulate information in order to brainwash the public into adopting beliefs that serve against their own interests, thus maintaining the status quo.

In my opinion, none of this truly changes until critical thinking becomes the norm. People MUST learn to be logical, skeptical, and objective in their reasoning. Until then, we stay losin'.

theres a lot more critical thinkers than you think

its just that places like the south drag progress down and make the entire group look dumb
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645AR posted...

theres a lot more critical thinkers than you think

I think there are far more people who know how to wrap their bias and bigotry around intelligent-sounding words, than legitimate critical thinkers.


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me, an intellectual

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To quote MiB:

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.
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So basically what you're saying is that nothing will truly change in society

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Yay automation

Feline_Heart posted...

So basically what you're saying is that nothing will truly change in society

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By the way, "critical thinking" isn't the same thing as being gullible enough to gulp down any half-baked nonsense hook, line and sinker because of the daft delusion that the further away from the mainstream and towards the fringes you venture, the closer you must be to "the real truth".

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Mr Hangman posted...

Have you applied critical thinking to this theory? Do you think it's realistic to expect a notable behavioral change in the majority of people?

Yes.
If the majority of people are taught to be BOTH compassionate and critical in their thinking, society would certainly be a lot better off in a multitude of ways. Obviously, there will always be exceptions; assholes and idiots would still exist. But more often than not, people are generally the products of their culture, so instilling them with a strong sense of goodwill and critical thinking skills would definitely improve society.

Two things change society: technological advancement and violent restructuring of social institutions.

Technology makes life more convenient for human beings, whichin some waysallows us to coexist more peacefully. It does not, however, prevent stupid people from doing stupid things. No matter how technologically advanced we are, if a king/ruler/etc. still uses superstition to deem homosexuality punishable by death, then the world is a worse place.

Firewerx posted...

By the way, "critical thinking" isn't the same thing as being gullible enough to gulp down any half-baked nonsense hook, line and sinker because of the daft delusion that the further away from the mainstream and towards the fringes you venture, the closer you must be to "the real truth".

Yes, this is true. I know quite a few people who think they are enlightened simply because they distrust mainstream media, yet still hold asinine beliefs about the world. One person in particular comes to mind: a chick Im friends with on Instagram, whos constantly posting about how vaccines are evil and how every celebrity worships The Devil...

You need to define compassion and critical thinking if you want to teach them, which is why we don't. We teach reasoning skills. People's individual intelligence determines how useful that is. The alternative is pretty authoritarian like 1984, Starship Troopers, Animal Farm, Prageru kinda shit.

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ZeroX91 posted...

You need to define compassion and critical thinking if you want to teach them, which is why we don't.

In this context, compassion would simply mean empathy. If people are smart but don't care about each other, society still suffers. If people care about each other but are gullible/naive/impressionable/unreasonable/etc., society still suffers. We need both.

We teach reasoning skills.

AKA, critical thinking. The ability to reason is an integral part of critical thinking.

People's individual intelligence determines how useful that is.

Which is why our best bet is making critical thinking a cultural norm, so that everyone has a fair shot. Obviously, some will be better at it than others. But even the inclination to critically think is better than not even trying.

It's been my opinion for a long time that debate should be a mandatory course in high school and that people should be forced in said class to defend views that they don't actually agree with. Understanding how to form, cohesively explain, and deconstruct evidence for an argument is a critical skill that is quickly becoming forgotten.

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s0nicfan posted...

It's been my opinion for a long time that debate should be a mandatory course in high school and that people should be forced in said class to defend views that they don't actually agree with. Understanding how to form, cohesively explain, and deconstruct evidence for an argument is a critical skill that is quickly becoming forgotten.

100% agreed!!

s0nicfan posted...

It's been my opinion for a long time that debate should be a mandatory course in high school and that people should be forced in said class to defend views that they don't actually agree with. Understanding how to form, cohesively explain, and deconstruct evidence for an argument is a critical skill that is quickly becoming forgotten.

So debate as a class instead of a club?

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ZeroX91 posted...

So debate as a class instead of a club?

Yep. Even if you can only do it as a single semester as part of a combination course or something like that, I think it's the most important subject that is the least often taught.

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l0gic posted...

In this context, compassion would simply mean empathy. If people are smart but don't care about each other, society still suffers. If people care about each other but are gullible/naive/impressionable/unreasonable/etc., society still suffers. We need both.

AKA, critical thinking. The ability to reason is an integral part of critical thinking.

Which is why our best bet is making critical thinking a cultural norm, so that everyone has a fair shot. Obviously, some will be better at it than others. But even the inclination to critically think is better than not even trying.

So you're just complaining about people being dumb then? Not everyone has the same capacity for learning and not everyone learns the same way can't expect teachers to have an individual curriculum designed to suit each student.

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s0nicfan posted...

Yep. Even if you can only do it as a single semester as part of a combination course or something like that, I think it's the most important subject that is the least often taught.

Would be kinda fun to have had that as a thing.

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Republicans don't like critical thinking itself. They don't just want people to be bad at math... They want people to fundamentally not be able to logically criticize indifference as a concept. Straight-up 1984 doublespeak.
Knowledge-Based Education We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the students fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.
ETA: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html

An obvious contributor to the declining education level within the GOP is the partys hostility toward higher education
https://www.alternet.org/2018/03/republicans-are-becoming-less-educated/

Learning inductive reasoning (scientific inference) and statistical reasoning seem to be far more important in my view.

Internet peeps who harp on "logic" tend to either have trouble with reasoning about the real world because the only way they know how is black and white, or tend to use "logic" as a stand in for "makes sense to me".

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ZeroX91 posted...

So you're just complaining about people being dumb then?

No. I'm positing that if society were properly educated and taught critical thinking skills, then in many ways we'd be a lot better off than we currently are.

Not every has the same capacity for learning

This applies to literally everything. Why are you singling out critical thinking skills?

and not every learns the same way can't expect teachers to have an individual curriculum designed to suit each student.

It's not about having an individual curriculum designed to suit each student; where did you even get that impression?

Mr Hangman posted...

violent restructuring of social institutions.

thisis what we need, badly
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So never, gotcha

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Solid Snake07 posted...

So never, gotcha

Maybe one day. Who knows?

bump!

Firewerx posted...

By the way, "critical thinking" isn't the same thing as being gullible enough to gulp down any half-baked nonsense hook, line and sinker because of the daft delusion that the further away from the mainstream and towards the fringes you venture, the closer you must be to "the real truth".

THIS. People try to critically think but its more for pretentious reasons than actually finding out the truth or reaching new revelations. So many try hards these days.

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