Thinking is what makes sense of the world. It is how we observe, pay attention, learn, reason, remember, solve problems, make decisions, become resilient and reflect. It is hard work and we sometimes take it lightly. Surely we can think as much or as little as we like, can’t we? It’s our brain! True, but what is our purpose in life? To be fulfilled, because that will make us happy. Other purposes we have are simply ways we hope will achieve that.
What constitutes fulfillment? Achieving our potential – but to be what? To be someone we consider of value both to ourselves and to others? Those values will mostly have been given and adopted when we were young. They develop all the way through life but early antisocial values are difficult to correct. Increasingly we think ‘not just difficult but maybe impossible’.
This article is not to discuss values but to see what thinking makes of them.
If we think better we will understand and read life more usefully. It will enable us to make sense of the world and that will make an impact on our lives. Impact and control are not the same thing but collective impact can lead to control of a sort, even if only for a time.
The value of thinking is that some control is better than no control. How to set about it?
Ask yourself these questions about any Project, Problem or Potential:
[1] What do I want when this is complete? Ask that about your own life, too.
[2] How much time do I have to deal with it?
[3] Where can I find answers to aspects of it that I don’t know?
[4] What resources do I have available to me?
[5] What could the issue be related to, beyond the obvious? This is important since it
concerns creativity, one of the most powerful of the thinking tools.
With the answers to these questions, do the following:
[A] Question the assumptions being made about the issue. What if they are wrong?
[B] Decide how to understand the issue better. Is the information credible?
[C] List new information that could affect the issue. Effect of AI, supercomputer, space?
[D] How could the opportunity expand to something larger, more effective?
When you’ve done that:
(i) Guess the most absurd consequences of the development
(ii) Think of the greatest benefit it could bring
(iii) Imagine the most dangerous use of it
(iv) Work out what would be its value if you sold it fully complete
(v) Judge its pleasure or pain to you if it was a present
(vi) Envisage a dog or cat version
(vii) Create a law you would pass to protect people from its wrongful use
(viii) Write a 150 word description of it suitable for a visiting Martian – what it is, what itdoes, how it works
You have thought.
But have you thought enough?
Good morning
John Bittleston
Do let us know if you tried it. How much better did you think?
A note to [email protected] will help…
23 Aug 2024
