critical thinking isn’t what to think, it’s how to think. you may critically think about this tweet, but lower those defenses for the next one. most people's natural state is to seek or settle for whatever confirms their preexisting beliefs (duh). life's more comfortable that way
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there are endless proposed critical thinking strategies and endless ways to integrate them, but they're all incredibly challenging to teach because thinking about thinking has to be developed over time, constantly refined, scrutinized, and customized per an individual's context
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ways to train metacognition/think critically: - challenge beliefs against reason - identify inconsistencies and biases - study contextually relevant perspectives - change mind when confronted with superior evidence - if it feels righteous or sounds unfalsifiable, question it
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obstacles that prevent critical thinking: - selection biases - cognitive biases - emotional biases - umm... other biases - false comparisons - overgeneralizing - mistaking correlation for causation - cherry-picking data - blindly listening to frozen meat companies on twitter
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all people, including scientists, have to overcome endless obstacles in endless contexts to think critically. you can’t just “do your own research" for everything. you have to defer to experts in subjects that require baselines of knowledge or expertise to think critically about
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if someone researches expert consensus and finds a conclusion they don't want to hear, they'll often keep searching until they find one they do, likely from fringe or anecdotal sources. even if you overcome your biases, finding the most reliable sources is still a great challenge
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decades of institutional trust declining and rapid internet access for the masses has allowed people to magnify every bias, mistake, and exception in scientific communities to discredit them and perpetuate conspiracies, politicized narratives, and further distrust toward experts
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people like being told what they wanna hear. they like shiny things. entertainment. provocative or beautiful imagery. divisive, confident statements. repetition, fear, purpose, belonging. there’s a million tricks to dull a mind, all of which must be overcome to think critically
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"in these strange and uncertain times" with information inundation, weaponized fear, and cultural polarization, we have to discover thoughtful, new ways to elevate experts, credible information, and critical thinking that can reach our neighbors in need steak-umm bless
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End of conversation
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NOT NOW I WON'T BE ABLE TO READ THIS WHILE THE DRAFT IS GOING ON
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COME BACK DOUG
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