More thinking on medical care

As I see it, each of us is responsible for our own medical care, and for those in our families and friends who cannot take responsibility for themselves -- the very young, the very old, and the very confused. 

I had to go online and check out which medicines I was taking that actually MADE me more constipated, for instance.  No doctor bothered telling me.  Our hospitals are more and more like third world hospitals where family must be there to tend the patient. 

What's my point?  Whining?  No, simply that to think clearly we MUST take responsibility for our own lives. 

I've been gone

because I had a knee replaced.  Thinking about it I note that while my orthopedic surgeon did a great job on the knee, and my internist referred me, noone in the medical community looked after the "whole me".  I had some intestinal issues.  "Not my job" was the general response I got. 

So I wonder -- is it this way for most people?  Do they think a medical professional gives a hoot about anything but his or her special part of a procedure? 

What do you think?  What has been your experience?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Creating Problems

I want to be around people who know how to create problems.  No, not the jerks that love to throw monkey wrenches in the machinery to see what damage they can do.  Not them.

I want to associate with people who struggle, ponder and think about how to state a problem  well.  Learning to state a problem clearly is two-thirds of the process of solving most problems. 

Sadly, many of the people I know either state the solution they believe is the “right” solution, or simply complain. 

“She gives so much work I will never get it done.” 

“He can’t expect me to do that!  Who does he think he is?” 

How much better to figure out what the problem is and when it is clearly defined, work out a step-by-step methodology for solving the problem  Too much work?

What does “too much” mean? 

Work?  Is this homework, tasks to do at the job site, a search on the Internet?  No value words allowed. 

What are the obstacles I face, including the ones I bring to the process.  

 What do you think?  What do you think?  Click on the little comment link to the right of “Posted by Al Lustie at ____ AM or PM” and leave a comment.  The link is just to the left of the

email this, blog this, Twitter and Facebook icons.   Or, look for the Post a Comment label.   I look forward to hearing from you.

Do Americans Prove that Evolution is Wrong?

A poll in 2009 showed that 51% of Americans do not believe in evolution, but rather believe that God created humans in their present form.  

After centuries of study, learning to think incisively and critically, and honing the scientific method, does this 51% prove that humans have not evolved?  Does it provide evidence that humans will never evolve?  

I ask this because, although the details of the evolutionary process are not at all clear, the fact of it is obvious to all scientific obversation.  Even the fact that humans have changed somewhat during recorded history is obvious, whether you call it evolution or not.  Thinking people, as opposed to rationalizing people who only think to prove their preconceived notions, embrace one or more theories of evolution as they continue to study, learn and grow.  

It’s over, folks.  The non-thinking population outvote the thinking, but by a tiny bit.  What can we do to help the non-thinking population “evolve”?  Or have we reached a dead end?

What do you think?  Sign in and leave a comment.

Thinking about Aging - Part 1

I am reading The Gift of Years by Joan Chittister.  The subtitle points me to a direction:  Growing Older Gracefully. 

Well, I am growing older.  I don’t mind.  It beats the alternative. 

I have asked the publisher for permission to quote sentences here and there so I could reflect on them with you.  I haven’t heard back yet.  Let me simply say that her insights about aging, and the advantages of being older,  stab with almost blinding clarity at time.  Other insights abound.

I quote Ms. Chittister:  “We talk about teaching our childrento be successful, but we really mean that we teach them to be competitive.” (Page 114)

I mull that over, and mostly agree with it.  Even when we teach them “good work habits” like being on time, delivering a bit more than is required, maintaining pleasant relationships with coworkers and customers, aren’t we really teaching that if you do that a bit better than most employees you will be promoted more quickly, or at least keep your job when others are being laid off?

What do you think?  Sign in, and let me know. 

Thinking And Teaching

My wife and I were talking about technology and teaching this morning.  I got to thinking that if we begin with the classic description of teaching as John Dewey on one end of the log and a student on the other, maybe we could get some clarity.

If you know what you want to do (communicate) and you know the What, all sorts of “How” will emerge.  Technology can include the log, and all sorts of other devices we take for granted, such as a pencil. 

What do you think?  Sign up, sign in, and leave a comment. 

Calling it Like It Is?

“What kind of music would you say it is?” asked my wife.  She was responding to a granddaughter telling us about a musical group she really, really likes.

She thought and began to respond a couple of times.  Finally she said, “Well, they are kind of doing yell singing.” 

I think she “got it”.  Too often we adults try to gussy stuff up, but really, “yell singing” is just that. 

What do you think?  Sign up and leave a comment. 

Thinking About Solving Problems - 4

There is always the "Thrash" method.  I have used it, and tech friends have used it.  A computer doesn't work properly.  We we start pounding on the keyboard, trying this, trying that, trying them over and over and over and over and over.  We "thrash around" hoping to hit something that fixes the problem and meanwhile feeling very busy and important and frustrated. 

How much better to define the problem. 
Then, think.  What do we know already that might solve the problem.
Think.  Will trying that damage anything, lose data, break a connection?
If not, try our solutions once.  ONCE.  ONE TIME. 
If it works, file the solution in our brain, and maybe write it down for future reference, or to share with colleagues.

Usually it doesn't work.  Should be try it again, but type faster and pound the keys harder?

No. 

How about doing some research on the problem?  The web, if we can get to it, has possibilities.  Of course, it helps to phrase the problem correctly.  In fact, describing the problem is essential.  Often, when working out an accurate, concise statement of the problem the solution will occur to me, or you, or our colleagues. 

Try eliminating the "thrash method" of solving problems from your life for thirty days and see whether you solve more problems better.  You might be surprised. 

What do you think?  Sign up and leave a comment. 

Thinking About Solving Problems - 3

The answer, “Because it’s wrong!” is the a solution to a problem.  For example, 

The Problem	Inadequate answer
Women don’t have equal right	“it’s wrong.”
The rich break the laws with impunity	“It’s wrong”
Tornadoes kill people	“It’s wrong:

Sorry! Saying that “It’s wrong” solves none of the above problems.  It might provide motivation to tackle the problem, but there is no strategy, not even a measurable goal, in the simplistic, “It’s wrong.”

I believe it is an unthinking response, often masquerading as profound thought, when a response to a problem is a put-down, a moralistic judgment or an impassioned deploring. 

Good thinking begins the process of solving a problem.  We’ll look at examples in future posts. 

What do you think?  Sign up and comment.

Uncertainty and Thinking - 3

"If you are so sure, what's to think about?"

Really, we usually don't think about the things we take for granted.  Kenneth Bailey once said in my hearing, "Culture is what you already know and don't think about."  He was referring to village culture in the Middle East, but it's true anywhere.  In the USA most people know that you dress after you get out of bed and before you go to work.  Possibly we thought about it when we were young, but as adults we just do it because we are CERTAIN that it's "what you do".

We don't think about it.

On the other hand, if we own several items of clothing, we do think about what we will wear.  We are uncertain whether this or that will be appropriate, or admired, or valued for today's work.  As a computer tech and administrator I used to have to wonder, do I wear slacks (for higher level meetings) or jeans (for getting under dusty desks and hauling dirty equipment to the bench for repair).  I was uncertain of the day's tasks, and had to think.

Uncertainty leads to thinking.  Certainty leads to living in ruts.

Well, what do you think?  Are you uncertain about what I am writing?  Sign in and leave a comment.

Uncertainty and Thinking - 2

Probably we need some certainty in order to think at all.  But not too much.

I helped a college student by providing a place for him to live when I was also in college.  It seemed the right thing to do.  He was a philosophy major who had committed himself to the position that we could not know anything.  Not ever.  As he advanced in his commitment, he became stranger and less responsible.  A few months after he left our shared houseboat, I heard that he had taken his life.  As he said, "I take a step, I think.  But I never know if there will be a floor or the ground where I put my foot next."  Without at least the assumption of certainty, he could not stand to live.  If he was alive.  He was not certain.

One "certainty" that he ignored was the inheritance he was due to get in a few months -- one million dollars, give or take a few cents.  In the 1950's, that was a chuck of money.

Anyway, we probably can't think unless we believe somethings are certain.  We have to have somewhere we can stand before we can move in any direction. 

What do you think?  Sign up and share your ideas.

Uncertainty and Thinking - 1

As I think about thinking I sometimes wish for certainty.  "Couldn't there be a few things we could be absolutely certain about?" I ponder.  The answer always comes back, "No."

I have come to believe that if we had some things that were certain, we would not need to think.  Many people approach religion this way.  They are certain of their god, their doctrine, their convictions and, for reasons of certainty, they stop thinking.  No more questions.  No more wondering (and no more wonder).  No more looking at things from a different angle. 

I recently purchased a new app for my iPad -- a game of physics.  We can, and must, spin our view of things around in order to shoot the blocks that crush the zombies effectively.  Different angles, different perspectives.  Even then, we are uncertain as to how it will play out.  And that is just a man-made computer game.

How much more thinking MUST be done about real life, real experiences of the transcendent, real quandaries?

What do you think?  Have you come to a point of gratitude for uncertainty?  Sign up and let us know. 

Thinking and Problems - 1

I think I know when creating problems is a useful task for the thinking person. 

I believe that figuring out the best, most succinct way of stating a problem requires skillful thinking.  This season of the year I can envision this sequence of problem statements:

Problem statements:

·      I don’t know how to get accepted into the program of (college of my choice). 

·      How can I gain acceptance by the administration of  (college of my choice)?

·      What must I demonstrate to gain acceptance at (college of my choice)?

·      Who must I talk to in order to determine what I must demonstrate to gain acceptance at (college of my choice)? 

·      When must I begin preparing to be accepted by (college of my choice)? 

·      My goal is to be accepted into the (college of my choice). 

If only I can state the problem clearly, then I can begin thinking, researching, asking questions and plotting methods to solving the problem.  The more clear I can be in stating the problem, the better my solution to the problem will be.

Thus, I will be a better thinking if I can create, or state, problems clearly and helpfuly. 

Sign up and tell us what you think about this?

Thinking About Solving Problems

I think I know when creating problems is a useful task for the thinking person. 

I believe that figuring out the best, most succinct way of stating a problem requires skillful thinking.  This season of the year I can envision this sequence of problem statements:

Problem statements:

·      I don’t know how to get accepted into the program of (college of my choice). 

·      How can I gain acceptance by the administration of  (college of my choice)?

·      What must I demonstrate to gain acceptance at (college of my choice)?

·      Who must I talk to in order to determine what I must demonstrate to gain acceptance at (college of my choice)? 

·      When must I begin preparing to be accepted by (college of my choice)? 

·      My goal is to be accepted into the (college of my choice). 

If only I can state the problem clearly, then I can begin thinking, researching, asking questions and plotting methods to solving the problem.  The more clear I can be in stating the problem, the better my solution to the problem will be.

Thus, I will be a better thinking if I can create, or state, problems clearly and helpfuly. 

Sign up and tell us what you think about this?

What Might The Change In Music Mean? - part 2

Singing mostly, or only, in unison occupies my thinking a bit.  I wonder if it's part of the push in the church for uniformity.  Uniform theology, uniform sexual preferences, uniform follower-ship of the uniform evangelical leaders.  I wonder. . .

My wife wonders if it has more to do with the lack of singing in our childhood.  Singing in schools seems to be reserved for the choir or glee club.  Or, in early grades, for singing in unison mostly of songs that are not very tuneful and not much fun. 

She commented that when we were going to grade school we sang.  We sang parts, we learned to sing, we had singing time pretty much through grade school.  Then came the folk craze and we sang around campfires, we learned to sing with three chords on the guitar, we seldom had a gathering without singing.  Yes, we sang multi-part songs. 

Nowadays we listen to music.  Much music is not particularly singable.  Screechable, screamable, yes.  Not terribly singable, and if you try you are more likely to feel angry that happy,  Or so it seems to me. 

What do you think?

What Might The Change In Music Mean?

One of the things I was taught in the late 1950's was that singing harmony represented the church at it's best.  Just as there were many parts, so church people came in various sizes, shapes and belief systems.  Yet we in the church could find harmony, and the harmony enriched us all.  I learned to sing multi-part harmony in part because I wanted to be part of something where you could be yourself, and yet belong to others being themselves.

Lately I have noticed in many settings the trend toward singing ONLY the melody.  Unison.  All on the same note.  This trend seems to have calcified about the same time the evangelical right, the TV preachers and the religious radio stations were all ranting about the need for us to all be the same morally, theologically and sexually.  Could the trend in music be part of the trend demanding uniformity?

My wife has another idea.  My next post will share that. 

Thinking and Learning

Check this out. I like how she thinks.


http://prezi.com/r2lbb3lfomg5/playing-to-learn-math/

What do you think?  Her definition of boredom grabs me.  

Thinking about processes - 2

To continue thinking about processes, I wonder what it takes to wake me up to the way things have changed.

Just because I set my own agenda doesn't mean I am setting the best agenda for myself.  Just because something worked last year doesn't mean it will work this year.  A close friend of mine is wrestling with this, as I have.  In his profession the best way to succeed has changed.  The old way(s) are not working.  When I moved from one state to another, from one kind of community to another, my former successful methods were met with resistance and boredom, and were not successful at all.

It took me a couple of years to recognize that the agendas I set for myself were failure agendas.

In a variety of situations I learned that it was not only necessary to set my own agenda, but to recognize the ways differing circumstances required me to change my agenda often.

How does a person learn to think fluidly, to change soon enough but not too soon?  Can this be taught?

I wonder about this part of the thinking process.  What do you think?

Thinking about processes - 1

We have been thinking about processes here in Littleton.  As a professional I have had to be a self-starter most of my life.  I set the agenda for each day, each week, each year.  How did I learn to do that?  How did I learn to think that way?

The comic character, Zits, embodies thinking without much inner motivation.  He relies on his mom to get him up in the morning, to feed him, to ensure that he has a lunch packed for school, and on and on.  So did I when I was young.  What happened to help me think for myself, motivate myself, set the agenda for myself?

When teaching Soon-To-Be professionals such as teachers, doctors, attorneys, pastors and so forth, I wonder whether they can be "taught" or "trained" to think in such a way as to take charge of their own day, their own income and their own retirement along with their own lives.  Can it be taught?

If a person is raised by people who work for someone else who sets the agenda for her/his work, where might that person get a model for being a self-starter?  That is, if a person punches in each day, has a boss who says, "You work the ________ line today." and punches out after eight or nine hours, what is being modeled? 

See, I think it is all about thinking.  What is a person's usual mental habit?  What can a person learn?  How can a person think differently?

I'm not sure.  What do you think?

Courage and Thinking

Bob gets up every morning in pain.  He stumbles through his morning rituals and goes outside in nice weather to work in the yard.  He knows that doing yard work results in more wear on joints already worn down.  He knows that more wear means more pain.  He works in his yard anyway.

His neighbor talks about Bob’s courage.  “Look at Bob!  He is so brave, out there in pain and doing what needs to be done.”  Probably many of us would say the same thing.

How do we relate courage and clear thinking?  What are Bob’s alternatives?  Doing nothing would lead to atrophied muscles and about the same amount of pain, probably.  What other activities could he engage in that might keep his muscles toned and cause him less pain?  

Does Bob even think about it any more?  Has habit replaced fresh questioning for Bob?  

How do you relate courage, however misplaced, and clear thinking?

Preferring Superstition

At coffee this morning one of the guys remembered the scene in Caddy Shack where the old preacher is on the 18th hole of the best golf game in his life.  He putts, misses and says something bad about God.  Lightning strikes.  He dies.  

I’ve been wondering about people (including myself) who prefer superstition to clear thinking.  The idea that God might care about the outcome of a golf game, and not care about the deaths and disaster in Japan during and following the tsunami is exaggerated superstition.  Granted, such warped thinking is promoted and pandered to by hundreds of TV “christian” speakers, but what makes it easy to sell is the way you and I fail to think about big issues.  

I don‘t mean our failure to factor in victims of the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent events.  I mean our failure to factor in the ways greedy manipulators screw over the world economy, the ways natural disasters destroy villages, cities and populations with no tears shed that we can see by any god.  I meaan our usual gratitude that we escaped a disaster again when others were crushed.  Our kids are doing well while other kids are shot in drive-by violence, an so forth.  

We know that the planet earth is not the center of our solar system, but continue to believe that we are the center of the universe.  

When I think of our superstitions, I don’t just mean the teachings of all major religions.  I mean the insanities we try to rationalize nearly every day no different than being careful not to step on a crack for fear of breaking our mother’s back.

What do you think?  Share your thoughts with us. 

Thinking About Wasted Taxes - 2

Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin (as well as Hitler) all had the prescription for the well-run society.  Their plans should have worked.  They failed, however, to take people into account.  People in general.  People the various ways they are, not people as cogs in a machine.  (Remember, however:  even cogs show wear after awhile.)

Your tax dollars at work are managed by people.  Forget, for the moment, the people you have seen standing around.  Think with me, instead, about the empire builder.  She or he wants to manage people, manage projects, manage paper -- whatever combination of stuff she or he wants to manage,  the end goal is seldom an efficient operation.  It is personal power, personal space, personal popularity or personal comfort.  Maybe even being perceived as indispensable.  It's about the "ME" in the equation, not about the efficiency and quality of the service to the taxpayer. 

I speak of well meaning , even necessary, legislation that helps children stay safe, guards you in your car as you drive or keeps roaches out of your ragout.  But someone is hired to "make it so" and that someone has a personal power agenda.  At first, maybe, she or he does well.  But the purpose of the bureau, committee, commission or council seems to fade into the historical background only to be trotted out when there is a threat to the empire.  Your money at work making him a comfy next seems to be more and more the problem. 


But we want to get rid of people like that, don't we?  So we invent an investigating group, which (more often than not) seeks to maintain itself in comfort and the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch your back" transactions begin.  The ideal falls prey to the human. 

This is only one issue, of course.  What do you think? 

Thinking about Wasted Taxes

If I begin, "Don't you just hate having your tax dollars wasted", most people will jump for joy.  They feel the hatred, the disgust, and the anger.  But they are not  thinkingˆ.  I want to encourage us to think.

Given the old saw that whenever I point the finger at someone three fingers are pointing back at me, I want to think about this:  "Do I ever work at less than 100% efficiency?"  Ask yourself that question, especially if you work for private enterprise.  If you EVER work at less than 100% efficiency you are wasting someone's money and time.

How about your spouse, if you are married?  How about your good friends, the folks you work out with, or go to church with, or play a pickup game of basketball with?  Do any of them ever work at less than 100% efficiency?  (You can pause and curse them here, and then get back to thinking.)

"But the government is so crammed with waste!"

So is business.  Any business that has more than forty or forty-one employees has one or more wasteful processes in place, well on the way to becoming hallowed "ways we have always done it." I watched several guys working for a private contractor standing around the other day.  Wasteful!  My buddy was riding with me and he immediately assumed they were city workers.  No, they worked for a private contractor who has not gotten everything scheduled perfectly.  They needed a truck that had not arrived before they could work the next piece of the project. 

Think about it.  Was the crew standing around being wasteful, or was the administrator who scheduled poorly, or was the problem heavy traffic that held up the truck for which they were waiting?

Think about it.  Is less than 100% efficiency in everything even remotely possible in a complex world?

We will keep thinking together about this.  Post a comment and let us know what you think. 

Thinking About Taxes

Emoting about taxes is in the wind.  Few people want taxes, many people despise taxes, balancing the budget without more taxes feels right.  Even people (like the governor of Wisconsin) who seem to think about taxes are mostly emoting about taxes and thinking about their ideological position and how to achieve it.  Think a moment about taxes with me.

Let's try damping the emotions.  Try substituting a word for "taxes" like "payment for services rendered".

We pay for police patrols, fire truck responses, road building and road maintaining.  We pay for law enforcement (not just keeping bad guys from breaking into our homes, but closing restaurants which are vermin infected).  We pay for food for hungry children, most of whom need help because one or more parents cannot get a job in this economy.

Oh, you say, there are deadbeats cheating on food stamps.  So, we pay for investigators to catch them and courts (judges, jury pools, clerks, buildings, etc.) to punish them.

We pay to have parks open (and mowed and patrolled), we pay for snow removal so we can get to work and earn money during snowstorms (and just after).  We pay for schools to educate our children not only in the three R's, but in social skills, in appropriate behavior, in music and drama, and in skills that make them employable in the coming years.  Employable?  Read "useful to our society" as well.

Payment for services rendered does not mean there are not places where money is wasted.  Let's look at that next.

What do you think?  Use the Comment link to share your thoughts with the rest of us.

Commenting

Somewhere along the line my "comment" field disappeared. I don't know why, but I enabled a pop-up comment field this evening. Click the Comments link and a box will pop up for you to comment in.

I will be looking at, and responding to, all comments UNLESS they are clearly just obscene nonsense. Probably you would not do something like that, but I have had people try to advertise their wares, make sick jokes, and generally behave in an unthinking and inappropriate manner in the past.

Or it may show up like the image below (in both cases, minus the red arrow.

Looking forward to hearing your input and having useful discussion.  Al

Whan You Can't Think

Most of us have experienced times when the action was too fast to take time to think. The child running out from between two cars right into the path of our vehicle, or the command from a sergeant (or chief petty officer) that required an instant response, or the insult hurled at us by someone. Oh, wait. That insult. Better take time to think before responding.

In fact, thinking ahead is is required. Not many driving instructors work with their students on planning for an emergency. My flight instructor did. He used to reach up and turn the engine off, maybe throwing the stick forward or sideways at the same time and lean back to see what I would do. He helped me plan for emergencies as did my father when I was learning to drive. Think ahead and train -- it helps when you don't have time to think.

That's why soldiers, marines, sailors and others in the military are trained and trained and trained. When the fecal matter hits the air mover someone has thought ahead and helped them respond the best possible way.

In the '60's and 70's we were taught to not think ahead. Just be in the moment. There is a place for that. But thinking based on data, thinking ahead based on data, is more useful most of the time.

What do you think?

Feeling and Thinking -- a short slideshow

Thinking Well And Feeling Strongly

I consider myself duly warned.  Thinking is not enough, I’m told.  You have to feel.  In fact, feeling motivates more action than does thinking.

I agree with the last sentence.  It’s a damned shame, but it’s true.  For me as for most human animals.  I suspect that it is also true that feeling negatively (hating, condemning, being angry, and the like) is easier than feeling positively (approving, enjoying, and feeling happy, for instance).  If a speaker can get me to hate someone or something (pretty easy to do unless I THINK carefully) that speaker can turn me into an “againster”.  I will be against whatever I might otherwise approve of, approve part of.  And, being in a negative emotional state, I will fail to think.  

Oh, darn.  Failing to think means I will probably act unwisely and support (or fail to support) foolishly. 

Purpose

Unless you expect a response, why would you speak?
Unless you expect a response, why would you give a speech?
Unless you expect a response, why would you write?
Unless you expect a response, why would you email?
Unless you expect a response, why would you communicate in any way?

Garry Trudeau and Data

On Sunday, Feb. 13, the Doonebury comic noted the following:

• on 9/11 3,000 people died in an attack
• the US started two long, bloody ward
• the US built a vast homeland security apparatus
• all cost in the trillions
• during that nine years 270,000 Americans were killed by gunfire at home
• we responded by weakening our gun laws

What does a person do with that kind of data?

Does the data speak for itself?

Is there other data that needs to be examined and included?

Mr. Trudeau did not make note of the curtailing of civil rights, of due process and other freedoms previous generations fought and died for.

Mr. Trudeau did not draw any conclusions except that an alien from another planet might not comprehend.

Editorial Thinking

Paul Krugman wrote an editorial that was in The Denver Post yesterday inside the Business section.  He entitled it, GOP gapes longingly at 1850s.  As a one-time Republican (now unaffiliated) I found it scary.  The thinking it reveals is worthy of analysis, of course. 
First, we remember it is an editorial.  An opinion piece.  Not careful research.  He is making points, and it behooves the reader (as with all commentary) to do as much research of the data as possible.  It doesn't matter who the author of an opinion piece is, including anything I write, the reader is responsible for researching the data for herself or himself.  Except in an election, nobody's opinion really matters very much.
Second, we explore the thinking he reports.  He notes that the modern-day Republican party does not choose to be the party of Lincoln who was the first president to introduce the income tax, who freed the slaves (mostly black) and who issued paper money.  It seems the conservative wing of the Republican party wants to be more conservative than most -- they want to go back before the time of President Lincoln. 
Again, thinking about that suggests that maybe electricity, indoor plumbing and women's rights (and participation in politics and business) should all be revisited and done away with. 
Think.  Think carefully about the good old days.  One of my friends, then an older person, said, "The good thing about the good old days is that they are gone!"  What do you think?

What Do We Use Thinking For?

"The purpose of thinking, paradoxically, is to arrive at a state where thinking is no more necessary at all. In other words, thinking starts with a problem and ends in a solution."  So writes Ajan Raghunathan.  In other words, good thinking could lead a thinker to relax and not have to think.

I believe there could be other reasons.  The person who climbs a mountain may climb it to see what is on the other side.  When she has seen it, that's enough.  No more mountain climbing for her. 

But here in Colorado thousands of people climb mountains because they enjoy all or some part of mountain climbing.  They don't stop once they have achieved.  Some climb the same mountain different ways, again and again. 

Thinking can be like that, too.  Once a person has thought through an issue, or solved a puzzle, he or she might want to approach it from a different angle.  Or from the same angle with different assumptions.  Thinking might be to help us think!  Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Deliberate Thinking

When during the day, or during the week, do you deliberately think?  That is, you tackle a subject, you work to put things together in a sequence, you use your brain to solve a problem?  Do you do it "as needed" or do you set a time aside for deliberate thinking?  Perhaps you don't even know what you will think about, but you do know that you will think.

Many of us have jobs or projects that require a lot of thinking.  We don't set aside a time for deliberate thinking, but only think to plan out the next step of our job or project.  I wonder if that is enough. 

I wonder if we would use our minds better if we had a set time to think.  To stretch our thinking capacity.  To wonder and work out the implications of what we wonder. 

I believe it would require turning the TV off (for awhile), setting the book aside, withdrawing from conversation, and possible being alone.  I'm not sure.  What do you think?

When Should We Let Other People Think For Us?

My initial response (reaction?) to this question is, "Never!!"  I want to do my own thinking, thank you  very much.  I believe I am pretty good at it.  But. . .

The wealth of data that human persons know, or have collected, is simply too rich.  Eric Schmidt said, at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA that 'Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until  2003, according to Schmidt. That’s something like five exabytes of data, he says.'
I'm fairly smart.  You are fairly smart.  But that is simply too much data to absorb, correlate, and draw conclusions from.  So what thinking people tend to do is to specialize.  Jane might specialize in Information Technology, Brianna might specialize in internal medicine, and Ahmed might specialize in military history.  

But wait! as they say in infomercials.  Even in a specialty such as Information Technology one human brain cannot know it all.  Cannot know all the data, and cannot correlate even what it knows fast enough.  When I was an active IT professional I read 400 pages or more per week, and even then had to stay within a small slice of the field.  I stayed roughly within the slice that affected my professional duties.  Even with that limitation I believe I missed great hunks of information that could have helped me and my employers.
By reading extensively, attending a few conferences, what I was doing was paring down the input into what could be absorbed and relying on the thoughts and experiences of others.  Yes, I let others think for me.
I did, however, test their conclusions if something seemed to apply to our situation.  That's when thinking for myself kicked in. 

Was it enough?  No. 

I then passed it by various "stakeholders" in the employing for their thinking.  Well, not everybody actually thought.  There were knee-jerk reactions.  Prejudices played a part.  It was up to me to filter the responses as well as ask others to filter mine.  Eventually we made decisions that had some thought behind them.
Yes, others helped think for me.  I am not immune to knee-jerk reactions or prejudice or emotional dismissal of data.  No person is, in my experience.
We need others to help us think, and to help us think well.

It's Not Always Easy

Obvious, you say.  It's not always easy to think critically, to rely on observed data.  Here's what I observe in myself and others. It's not easy to think critically when sick. 

• "I want to be outside." 
• "I want to go shopping."
• "I always meet Margie (or Sam, or Bill or Billie) on Thursdays."
• "I feel fine."  (No, I don't.)
• "I can't sleep."
• "I never rest during the day." 

So the excuses go.  Observed data says that for you (your history) and for others, most humans get better faster, miss less work, miss fewer chances to be outside or go shopping, or meet with friends if we consciously and intentionally get rest.  The data-oriented, critically thinking person knows it to be true.  But we rationalize to an extreme when sick.
I have friends who are dealing with end-of-life issues (not too far away for me, either).  Even though they are not taking their medications properly, remembering to turn the stove off, or knowing where they are all the time when they drive, it's not easy for them topermit themselves to notice. Without noticing the data, they find it hard to think well.                   

"Yes, I need help."
"It's time to give up driving, or only drive in my restricted neighborhood."
"I should be exploring assisted living possibilities while I can make my own decisions." 
"I need to update my will."
"I need to work with my attorney to fill out a Power of Attorney and a Medical Power of Attorney."
"It would help my heir(s) if I prepaid my funeral."

If I am ruled by fear of dying, or fear of giving up power, or fear of not being in my own home, I will not find it easy to think clearly.  One method of dealing with this is to do the hard thinking, the tough decision-making, when I am able  think clearly.  The data will help me.  A few clear-thinking friends with good track records of thinking well can help as well.  When do you notice yourself making silly moves because you find it darned hard to think clearly? 

Once and for All

What can be fixed “once and for all”?

Nothing.

Seriously, even the mountains change.  The earth’s crust moves.  All that we think of as “unchanging” and “permanent” - - - changes.  There is no data that suggests that something complex, like a system for educating people, will not need to flex, change, and be adapted.  

When public education moved west into rural areas many farm people resisted it.  They believed they needed their children at home to work.  They believed that if their children learned to farm, do chores, cook and sew, their lives would be good.  Book-learning was not necessary.

How did that work out?  

The world changed, farming became more complex, a small farm would not support all the children when they became adults and married and had children.  Some were required to move to town, move west, move elsewhere in order to survive.  In one lifetime the need for education changed and the skills -- thinking skills - required to survive and even do well changed.  And there was the Dust Bowl. 

Change in society, change in child development, change in what children learn at home, change in societal pressures, and many, many other changes require changes in a complex system like that of public education.  Planning for a system that will be useful for ALL our children, and ALL children yet to be born and yet to immigrate into our country must include planning for appropriate and useful change along with all the changes that will be taking place in our society, our nation, and our cultures.  That will take some very broad and very deep thinking.  Will we be up to the challenge?