Barry's Share: How to think

From Barry: After publicly making some egregious errors on social media, and then doubling down, I decided that I needed to do something to improve my thinking.

"How to Think”, by Alan Jakobs, was the book I chose. I heartily recommend it. Alan is a member of two communities that are mutually antagonistic - Christians, and academics. This book is the outcome of 30 years of research, thinking, and discussions. Though the book is only around 100 pages, if you don’t have time to read it, skip to the back for a checklist that may change your thinking.

The first observation is that thinking is a social activity. Ideally, we can discuss and debate with other people to improve our own knowledge. We may also self censor in order to remain a part of the group, even if we don't completely agree. Eventually, the cognitive dissonance of what we think and what others think could drive us from the group, which is an outcome that evolution drives us naked apes to avoid at all costs.

One of the pervasive concepts in the book is the Repugnant Cultural Other, usually abbreviated as RCO. A RCO is someone who is a member of a community whose thinking is antagonistic to your groups I.e. Fundamentalist Christians and academics. As we have seen on many social media platforms, discussions between RCOs exhibit a lot of emotion and very little thought - essentially, the strong feelings of repugnance stop people from thinking.

The following Latin quote should inspire us to keep thinking in discussions with RCOs: Humani nihil a me alienum puto (Nothing human is alien to me). It is a reminder that we are all leaves on the same human tree, and so “but for the grace of God, there go I”. It does not mean agreement, but it does mean understanding.

****

Remember, you don’t need to be an expert to join the conversation. Questions, reactions and different perspectives are all welcome. Comment below👇🏻