We are witnessing the death of critical thinking.

It has been ill for many years, despite the best efforts of those of us who understand that it must survive in order for humanity to prosper. The relentless onslaught of manipulation and greed, combined with a near-complete erosion of education – once its origin and champion – has left critical thinking in extremis.

The capacity for critical thinking is very old. It has been around as long as there has been a functioning prefrontal cortex. Socrates first codified its power and utility nearly 2,500 years ago and employed it in his well-known Socratic Method. The last vestiges of critical thinking survive today in a handful of classrooms and – whether they know it or not – in the work of the best scientists and therapists.

What does it mean to think critically?

The “critical” part of critical thinking involves rational, fact-based consideration of the evidence for and against an argument. A healthy dose of skepticism is important, as is an attempt to suspend your own biases.

Why is critical thinking important? Truth. Other people can only speak to you from their own experience and biases. When you learn to think critically, you can do your own research, come to your own conclusions, find your own truth.

People don’t want to believe that they are merely followers, that their passions and beliefs are not their own. Yet this is commonly the case.

The death of critical thinking

Once upon a time, critical thinking was a pillar of education. Students were taught to memorize facts, but also to evaluate arguments. To this day, I have done my best to instill critical thinking skills in my classrooms, whether I am teaching music, behavioral sciences or medicine. And to this day, students (adults, by the way) regularly approach me to report that, “No one ever told me how to think; only what to think.” In the half-century I have formally been teaching, I have seen a steady diminution in what I consider to be the most important goal of education. Students are being told what to think at the expense of how to think.

Indoctrination is replacing education.

It is far easier to influence adult minds when you program young minds to accept what they are told. Questions are not only discouraged, but the questioner is punished for the question. The death of critical thinking begins when questioning ends.

Education has been steadily declining in its ability to teach thinking skills for decades. So what is responsible for the relatively sudden, catastrophic lack of independent thinking so clearly on display today?

Think, don’t follow

There are more than 4.7 billion human minds subjecting themselves to social media, by current estimates (but do your own research, right?) – that’s almost 60 percent of the population of Earth. Teens spend an average of eight and a half hours per day on social media. The average American, for instance, checks a mobile device for updates over 150 times a day, and will ultimately spend over two and a half hours scrolling through social media platforms.

What are they looking at? A handful of people who reach a huge audience.

What are these people saying? Obviously they are asking you to independently evaluate…wait, no they’re not. They expect you to accept as truth whatever they say.

What are these people called? Influencers.

What do you become? A follower.

You are being influenced to accept other peoples’ truths.

A double-edged technology

Let me be clear – I am not against social media (not that it matters: social media is here to stay until some global-killer event resets us). It is a tool, and as is the case with any tool, it can be used for good or evil.

You can use social media to learn of current events and expose yourself to the prevailing thoughts about those events. Then your critical thinking skills can lead you to appropriate, independent conclusions.

Vastly more likely, however, you will be sucked into whichever ideological group your personal biases favor. “Group think” and “echo chambers” follow, and you become absolutely certain that the thoughts you have been fed are correct and that they are monumentally important.

What does the other point of view have to say? Who cares – I’m right!

Don’t you dare assault my beliefs with your facts.

This is the Dunning-Kruger effect in full bloom. Your lack of knowledge and experience, bolstered by influencers (they have a million followers; they must know what they’re talking about) leads you to greatly overestimate your own knowledge and ability.

Worse still, you may be confronted by someone with differing (and possibly correct) facts and experience. Should you calmly consider their information and critically reevaluate your position to see if you need to make a change?

Hell no. Demean, disparage and demonize. Whoever yells loudest is right.

Cancel that -ist; put them on blast. Trust the science!

Science changes as new information is discovered. That is its defining hallmark. Blind trust is dogma, not science.

Why kill critical thinking?

You have to shout down all opposition to save the planet, the whales, the forests, the (insert popular cause here), don’t you? Rational discussion would only lead to a chance of losing and this cause is far too important. We must win at all costs, or, or…the world will end! Even if it means the death of critical thinking.

Or so the influencers tell their followers, who dutifully, well, follow.

But climate change advocates fly private jets. Police de-funders hire private security. Armed teams surround gun control pundits. Politicians speak of individual freedom and then implement intrusive government policy. The hypocrisy is endless, and infects all political ideologies.

Regardless of party affiliation, there is a common denominator.

It’s all about control.

Greed and power drive a great deal of the rhetoric that you consume. It has always been such, but nowadays it is so much easier to influence the masses who then follow and believe that they are doing good. What can you do with that much money and power? Exert control.

If you try to cancel anyone who has a different opinion, you may be a follower.

If you surround yourself only with others who think like you think and believe what you believe, you may be a follower. (Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy…)

Followers don’t think. They react. The result is, well…look around.

Can we save critical thinking?

Yes, if enough people start to think for themselves. There are two pitfalls to consider:

First, you are human. You have been raised with a set of cultural norms, edicts from authority figures and your own experience. You are hardwired to quickly make assumptions about people, places and things as a matter of survival. The assumptions become biases over time. Some are conscious, others not so much.

The best safeguard is to be as aware as possible of your biases. Only then can you take them into account when evaluating the validity of an intellectual position.

Second, you must acquire the ability to evaluate “fact” sources. This skill is especially important in the current era of intentional disinformation (and disinformation about the disinformation). Once reputable sources of information now spout propaganda. Even peer-reviewed journals – created specifically to offer immunity to bias – have fallen to political pressure.

Do your best to “consider the source.” Ask yourself, “Who would benefit if this was a lie?” If these laws and policies were implemented, who would suffer? Trust your experience. Think about the consequences. And then learn about the opposing views.

As a thought experiment, “steel man” both sides of the argument. Do your best to defend opposing opinions as though you believe they are true. You may strengthen your position. You may change sides altogether. You will definitely learn.

Above all, think.

As always, I welcome your thoughts. You can reach me through the comments section on my Substack or Medium accounts or the blog section on my website. If this article as of value to you, please follow my Instagram and Twitter accounts. And be sure to subscribe to my River Of Creation podcast – The Podcast for Creators! – coming later this year.

Be well; do good!

• JWW