Add a Comment   Back to OJB's Blog Search Page

Teach Skepticism

Entry 2368, on 2024-10-23 at 09:03:06 (Rating 3, Skepticism)

Elon Musk has become increasingly active in politics recently. I have made no secret of the fact that I really admire Musk, and I do agree with many of his political beliefs too. Yes, I am brave enough to say that if I lived in the US I would probably vote for Trump in preference to Harris. I know Trump has his issues, but he sure looks more likely to implement sensible policies than Harris does, and that goes beyond Harris' obvious liking for woke BS.

Unlike most of his critics, I have listened to many interviews with Musk, and I always find him to be a deep and careful thinker. There is one comment he made recently that I think is more important than any other. It is that, to reduce many of the big problems society faces today, we need to teach people to be critical thinkers, or skeptics.

Musk said: "I think teaching kids critical thinking is very important. It's a mental firewall. Teach them the types of fallacies and forms of trickery they're likely to encounter. Immunize kids against propaganda. Basically, teach kids to be skeptical about what they're told."

Skepticism has multiple meanings, but I prefer to use the modern, informal one which is "not taking anything at face value, and looking at the facts behind anything claimed as being true". Note that I don't mean the formal, philosophical meaning of the word, which is the idea that establishing facts with certainty is impossible, even though I do believe that is true (we can never know anything with 100% certainty) but it is best to proceed as if that wasn't true or we will never make any progress on anything!

I got a fairly normal and moderately good education, but I don't remember a single time when I was taught how to evaluate claims and establish what is likely to be true. In science, evidence for a theory was sometimes included, but the process of evaluating evidence was never explicitly discussed.

Later, at university, this trend continued until I encountered a professor in third year psychology whose area of interest was paranormal psychology: that is stuff like ESP, mind reading, spoon bending, and all of that highly suspicious stuff. Until then I had sort of assumed that these things were a mystery and there might have been some truth to them, but after being shown how conventional explanations could explain them I realised that the world is never quite the way it seems at first.

My political views have also changed significantly over the years, and I always check anything political I see in the news. In many cases, I already know a bit about the subject and notice how what is presented as news is often just part of the story, or a distorted view with information which has already been disproved.

So I am skeptical of everything, which might seem like a very negative and unproductive attitude, but there is one thing which I really dislike: that is being fooled by a politician or by some form of fakery or propaganda. Maybe that's why I despise our previous prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, so much. I initially supported her, and even suggested to Labour she be made leader when they were having big problems with leadership, then I voted for her.

Well, that was a big mistake, wasn't it? Once I realised what a dishonest, incompetent narcissist she was I switched my vote, but I never forgave myself for being taken in by her BS. It was my fault, not hers, but its hard not to be resentful!

So we all need to be careful of what we think is true, especially in areas which are controversial. I try to double check anything I am going to comment on in social media, for example. And which things do I check most thoroughly? The stuff I really want to be true. I am so skeptical I am even suspicious of myself!

Comment 1 (7740) by EK on 2024-10-24 at 19:44:25:

I certainly agree with the general sentiment of this post. Healthy scepticism stands next to sound intelligence, or godliness if you prefer. Ironically scepticism is part of the didactic mission of the social sciences you so terribly – and unfairly – castigate in a previous post.

Unfortunately, conspiracy theories also spring from scepticism. Modern flatearthers, for instance, are not a “prehistoric” leftover, they are moderns who are sceptical of the modern world view. Anti-vaxxers are sceptical of the medical science and of those advocating it, etc. How do you distinguish good scepticism from bad?

Comment 2 (7741) by OJB on 2024-10-24 at 21:49:19:

Yes, I agree with you that skepticism can be misused, but I'm not suggesting a skeptic should just refuse to believe the "standard narrative". The correct approach is to not fully believe anything until you do a bit of checking. Obviously, you can't check everything, but until you do, allow for the possibility that the claim could be right or wrong. Don't automatically believe or disbelieve anything, especially when the subject is controversial.

Instead of answering your comment about the social sciences here I might write a blog post specifically on that, explaining my thoughts more fully.

You can leave comments about this entry using this form.

Enter your name (optional):
Enter your email address (optional):
Enter the number shown here:
Enter the comment:

To add a comment: enter a name and email (optional), type the number shown, enter a comment, click Add.
Note that you can leave the name blank if you want to remain anonymous.
Enter your email address to receive notifications of replies and updates to this entry.
The comment should appear immediately because the authorisation system is currently inactive.