Good Thinking: What You Need to Know to be Smarter, Safer, Wealthier, and Wiser
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Good Thinking: What You Need to Know to be Smarter, Safer, Wealthier, and Wiser
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633880658 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 10/06/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Sales rank: | 763,042 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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Good Thinking
What You Need to Know to be Smarter, Safer, Wealthier, and Wiser
By Guy P. Harrison
Prometheus Books
Copyright © 2015 Guy P. HarrisonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63388-065-8
CHAPTER 1
THE CASE FOR GOOD THINKING
"For it is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to apply it well." — René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences, 1637
Who was this brain? What kind of body was it in? What places had it lived and visited? Was this brain often sad? What made it happiest? Had it been tormented in life, or did it know plenty of joy and freedom? Was it loved? Did it contribute great things to the world? Did it feel the pain of others and try to help? Or did this brain deliver more pain and hate to the world? What were its best ideas? Just how strange and exotic were its wildest dreams?
Those questions and many more bubbled up from my own brain as I stared at the exposed brain on a table before me. I discovered this object of my obsession at the Experimental Biology Conference in San Diego. It was at the booth of a company marketing plastinated body parts for educational purposes. I inspected the details, looked over the brain's blood vessels, the curves and soft valleys of the neocortex. But there was so much more to consider. Is a human brain, I wondered, capable of comprehending the human brain? Is this encounter a variation of the irresistible-force-meets-an-immovable-object scenario?
No mere body part, the brain is like nothing else in the known universe. This is the deepest well of creativity. It is the ultimate organic engine of analysis, perception, and imagination providing us with a borderless expanse of thought. It is, as poet Emily Dickinson wrote, "wider than the sky" because it can imagine, well, just about anything. Regardless of something's size, weight, distance away, or even state of existence or nonexistence, the brain can capture it in a thought. Even something as challenging as infinity can be at least wrestled with and perhaps glimpsed by the brain. Inside it, the unreal becomes real, the impossible possible. Yes, the reach of a single human brain is greater than the bounds of this universe and all others that may be out there as well. But the more I looked at this plasticized brain, the more it seemed small and physically unimpressive. It's certainly not rare, either. More than seven billion of them are operating at any given moment. More than a hundred billion have existed. But there is no denying the magic that is the limitless nature of its output and potential. Somehow, this electrified three-pound blob of water, cells, chemicals, and fat thinks, creates, and dreams in ways nothing else can match. Tens of thousands of miles of blood vessels feed it. Trillions of neural connections give us the ability to walk, run, speak, write, create art, and imagine virtually anything. This one I had found was no bigger than a small cantaloupe, yet it had made and held a lifetime's worth of hopes, fears, dreams, memories, and ideas. A human brain is the greatest asset of all, the most powerful tool ever. And you have one.
Chances are we have not met. But this doesn't mean I don't know a lot about you. I am aware of many of your weaknesses and inclinations because you have one of these human brains. And this tells me more than enough about how you are prone to think and perceive the world around you. Your unique combination of education, personal beliefs, experiences, and personality are of little consequence. You and I belong to the same relatively young and closely related species and rely on the same kind of brain. For this reason, I can say with confidence that you, like me, have at least one foot in fantasyland at all times. It doesn't matter if we happen to speak different languages, eat different kinds of food, listen to different music, hold opposing views on social and political issues, or dress differently. I know that your vision and your memories are not only unreliable but also vulnerable to many forms of manipulation. I know that you feel aware and mostly in control throughout your daily activities. In reality, however, your subconscious mind, I call it the "shadow brain," influences and dictates thousands of your thoughts and actions every day. I know you imagine that you make important decisions based on evidence, logic, and common sense. But the truth is that you, like everyone else, come to many conclusions and initiate many actions based on half-baked hunches served up by your shadow brain. Many of these would embarrass you if they came to light. For example, while you have only begun to shake hands and say hello to someone you are meeting for the first time, your shadow brain is already busy sizing him up and running through a rapid-fire list of questions that will influence your conscious interactions and feelings about this person. Safe or dangerous? Clean or dirty? Ugly or beautiful? Any potential here for sex or love? Is this person inside or outside my culture/race/religion/worldview? Dumb or smart? Rich or poor? Factors you would never expect can influence you to like or dislike someone, say yes or no to an investment opportunity or product for sale, and pass a favorable or negative moral judgement on an issue. A smell we cannot even consciously detect, if we happen to be hungry or tired at a given moment, and whether or not we recently washed our hands can tip us one way or another. Regardless of how accurate or fair such rapid-fire hunches may be, they end up in the lap of your conscious mind to deal with. And your conscious mind is more often than not going to accept them without question and begin the automatic process of rationalizing them by selectively noticing all supporting evidence. We can imagine our conscious minds as often slipping into the role of lawyers who have been hired to speak for and defend big corporations, even when the corporations are wrong. We can't stop or cure ourselves of all this subterranean activity — it is normal, not a malfunction or illness — but we can adopt a general awareness about what is going on so that our conscious minds can at least pause and give deliberate thought to the more important decisions in light of all this.
We benefit from understanding as best we can the way our brains work and how we come up with our ideas, conclusions, decisions, and perceptions of reality. Moreover, adopting an attitude of positive skepticism in daily life and striving to be consistent critical thinkers reduces cognitive errors, thereby increasing efficiency and safety. Few things in life as this can offer more protection from harm and more opportunities for personal and professional fulfillment. Sadly, however, relatively few people ever make the effort to learn how brains work, how to keep them healthy and productive for as long as possible, and how best to think through the mental land mines lying around within and without the brain. Failing to know one's own brain is a dangerous ignorance. Bad thinking is our invisible pandemic, the plague popular culture ignores. The invaluable bundle of critical thinking, skepticism, appreciation for science, and a basic understanding of the human brain fits nicely into one simple term: Good thinking.
There is a growing global subculture of people who can be described as good skeptics. They are not cynics or pessimistic malcontents. These are people who simply have decided to think before they believe, to question strange or important claims before accepting them. They appreciate the protective value of critical thinking. They ask for evidence and look for logic and reason before accepting a claim. Good skeptics are nothing more than people who strive to be sensible. They feel it's wise to put in a bit of work in order to spot as many lies and delusions as possible. Who in their right mind wouldn't want this? The better one is at separating truth from fiction, reality from delusion, the better chance one has to avoid problems, because our world overflows with bad ideas and deceptive claims. Of course, many things defy easy categorization. No one can tell for sure whether or not something is true or real in every case. What then? A good skeptic understands this and is necessarily humble as a result. There are more questions than answers, more mysteries than solutions. Good skeptics are not so silly to imagine themselves as know-it-alls who have everything figured out. They are honest enough to admit ignorance when appropriate and to live with unanswered questions — even when doing so may be unsatisfying or distasteful. This is a subculture open to anyone, anytime. It's never been easier. There is no entry test, no application to fill out, no membership fees, no secret handshake. All it takes is a moment of clarity, a decision made within the privacy of one's mind to embrace skeptical thinking.
One of the reasons it is easier than ever to be a good skeptic and rational thinker these days is because we know so much more about ourselves, thanks to science. The ways in which we see, hear, process information, remember, and make decisions are no longer as mysterious and misunderstood as they once were. Much remains to be learned, of course, but the fact is hard work over many years by many scientists has revealed a remarkable amount of practical information about our brain. Why not take advantage of it to better your life? Unfortunately, most people don't know or don't bother. As a result, they inevitably become the unwitting victims of their own brain's natural functions again and again. Possibly without meaning to, they cling to nonsense and habitually make bad decisions. And once negative consequences come home to roost, they blame it on bad luck, their enemies, or perhaps a divine plan. Ignorance about what the physical brain needs to work well and last long is also the norm. For some, the cost of all this may be mercifully minor. For many others, however, it might cost everything.
"It's all about self-awareness," said Kenneth Feder, an author and professor of archaeology at Central Connecticut State who promotes science, skepticism and critical thinking. "Most people merely assume that their brains objectively collect data through the senses. I think it's humbling, in a good way, when people learn it's not nearly that simple. Knowledge of and an understanding of pareidolia, cherry-picking, confirmation bias, [and] the ways our brains fill in missing information are all useful in recognizing our limitations and in recognizing that there is a viable process of increasing objectivity — science."
When people reflect on poor decision making, bad judgment, prejudices, and irrational fears, they are likely to view these as information deficiencies and problems other people struggle with. It is common, probably universal, for people to think that they are more rational and careful in their thinking than they really are. If only other people knew more facts or were more educated, then they would make better decisions, be less prejudiced and less prone to being taken advantage of by charlatans, right? Not necessarily. It's not just "them." It's all of us. After countless experiments and many thousands of published studies, we know enough about the brain to be sure that no one is ever safe from cognitive deceptions and just plain sloppy thinking. Scientists know this. But what about the rest of us? At the very least, make sure you know.
I'll make one more assumption about you: You think you are pretty smart, maybe not a genius, perhaps, but definitely above average. If I'm right about this, and you know I am, it's crucial for you to understand that being intelligent doesn't make you a good thinker. A respectable formal education won't necessarily do it either. It's not enough. For example, it is only natural for all of us to underestimate how our judgments are shaped and directed by hidden biases. From buying soap to voting in an election, we wrongly assume that we make decisions based on rational thinking — even though we can see that so many others around us do not. Research has shown that this is how people typically think. We simply aren't adept at recognizing how bad we are at critical thinking. But we can improve. The first and possibly most important step toward good thinking is humility. Believing that you are rational and your conscious self is in control of your perceptions and decisions is itself the greatest of all delusions. Let go of that fantasy and admit that you, like every other human on Earth, need to work on your good thinking.
Fortunately everyone is already a skeptic, and we are all critical thinkers. Some people certainly appear to try, but no one embraces every crazy claim. No one falls for every scam. This means that in all of us there is at least a foundation, a place from which to build. The bad news, of course, is that in many cases some heavy-duty construction is necessary. Becoming a better critical thinker means improving what you already do to some degree, not changing everything about how you think and feel. I have yet to meet someone who told me that believing nonsense or wasting time and money on lies is a great way to live. In virtually every case, people accept bad ideas only because they haven't figured out that they are bad ideas. No one sets out to make mistakes. No one yearns to be a sucker. Virtually everyone is in the game; we just need to play it better.
"In daily life, critical thinking is our only defense against being fleeced," said Portland State University anthropologist Cameron M. Smith. "Without it we are easily fooled by politicians and snake-oil salesmen to name just a few. In science, a healthy, constructive skepticism is required to sort the good theories from the bad and slowly, steadily make our way to understanding."
In childhood we learn to rely on sight, sound, and touch to make sense of the world. Unfortunately, no one teaches us that our senses can mislead us about what is real and what is not. We also have many biases and ways of thinking that feel right but steer us toward flawed conclusions and poor decisions.
"Do not trust your senses!" warns John Pfister, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College. "Evolution has shaped us to be big gap-filling machines and this can get us into trouble over and over again. 'Goodness, I dreamed of Uncle Floyd last night, something must have happened!' 'Holy cow! There I was thinking about Uncle Floyd the other day and he called me! We must be psychic.' 'Did you hear that Uncle Floyd came out of his coma last night? Our prayers must have been answered!' No, just because something feels like it should be true does not make it so. Intuition, while a good starting gun for the race to find the truth, is only that. Empiricism, logic, and the scientific method will carry you over the finish line."
Forget how much general knowledge you have or how many diplomas you may have racked up. It doesn't matter. Good thinking comes down to performance and not credentials. Sound information is nice to have, but knowing how to think matters most. Good thinking is not the same as being smart or educated. It means mental clarity, agility, and dynamism. It's a form of intellectual due diligence concerned with doing the work to determine what is worth knowing and accepting as probably true. What is real? What is true? Will this product deliver as advertised? Is the source credible? What are some appropriate expert sources of information about this that I can consult? Should I just admit I don't know and leave it at that for now? Good thinking requires one to carefully consider conclusions and decisions before, during, and even long after they are made.
"Chances are pretty good that most self-identifying skeptics did not learn their critical thinking skills as children in school," said John Byrne, a Michigan internist, pediatrician, and assistant professor at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. He thinks everyone, the younger the better, should learn as much as possible about the human brain.
"I think that it is also likely that most self-identifying skeptics wish that they had some formal education in critical thinking early on. We have learned a lot about how wrong our instincts are concerning how the brain works. Everything we experience is really our brains' interpretation of the world. Our biases are built-in filters that prevent us from seeing some of the world as it really is. Information is processed to make sense of the world with respect to our previously held beliefs even before we are consciously aware of it. This is apparent when two people observe the same event yet have two distinct memories of the event. It is also obvious when we study optical illusions."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Good Thinking by Guy P. Harrison. Copyright © 2015 Guy P. Harrison. Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments, 9,Introduction, 11,
Chapter 1: The Case for Good Thinking, 13,
Chapter 2: Where Do Brains Come From?, 55,
Chapter 3: Exploring Your Brain, 75,
Chapter 4: Who's Minding the Brain?, 107,
Chapter 5: Bringing Human Vision into Focus, 127,
Chapter 6: Don't Forget How Memory Works, 139,
Chapter 7: The Shadow Brain, 155,
Chapter 8: The Enemy Within, 169,
Chapter 9: Three Crazy Things That Live in Your Head, 179,
Chapter 10: An Alternate View of Alternative Medicine, 193,
Chapter 11: Good Thinking vs. Bad Ideas, 215,
Chapter 12: Okay, So Now What?, 231,
Notes, 245,
Bibliography, 267,
About the Author, 277,
Index, 279,
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