Thread: Do You Critically Think Enough?

I am a powerful critical thinker, sometimes I over think so I remind myself to make sure I'm not over looking the simple solution. I have noticed people get sucked into that a lot when faced with a new problem, they rev up their brains too fast and don't realize the simplest solution required almost no thinking at all. Take the other day for example a PV installer was looking for a solution to a mounting problem, his customer wanted a system integrated into their roof now, but in a few months they are having a new roof installed. He had these drawings of different elaborate ways to rip up parts of the roof and have jacks coming up out of the sub-roof.... I stood up and walked over to a sample of flashing we have showed him the install manual where it shows a guy using a shingle pry bar to lift a row of shingles and then the flashing slides under, then you seal it and put the old shingle back over.

Don't re-invent the wheel if it works just fine for your application...is my mantra.

Partisans need to see this.

I don't like the term 'black and white thinking'. The narrator states "If one sees only two options when more exist, this constitutes a false dichotomy". This is true but there are also people who have the opposite problem, when faced with a black and white situation they assume there are more options. This itself is a bias. You see it manifested in cliche sayings such as 'There's my opinion and your opinion and the truth is always somewhere in the middle', 'all things in moderation', etc.

Also, I think unfortunately many people are not interested in self-reliance.

Originally Posted by min0 lee

Partisans need to see this.

Yes.

I've given up talking with them.

Im forced by my Math intensive classes to think analytically. Im much better on the fly. Good under pressure but not so outside the box.

Im more of a peripheral visionary. I can see into the future but way off to the side.

Im sorry. I stole that material from Steven Wright. No copyright.

That seems like common sense to me however it's not as common as it should be. I get hatemail on my Youtube channel almost everyday as it is devoted to science. It never ceases to amaze me at how narrow minded people can be. I'm not sure whether its simply the power of religious indoctrination or whether they are just retarded. Maybe it's both.

I get flak for being over critical and too scientific from my wife and family...I sometimes see myself coming off as robotic and too unemotional.

On a side note...people with mindless faith have a real strength even if it is something I'll never grasp. They can so easily deal with the loss of loved one by dismissing it as "they're in a better place...<<sigh>>"...and everything is suddenly at peace and is A-OK with them, while a critical thinker may have a much harder time accepting the loss.

Or how they can just accept their fate and say "its for the best" or "god works in mysterious ways"...and then they just proceed forward with no stress...even though some of us will say its ignorant bliss, they would say its spiritual satisfaction. It just seems like it makes life so easy for them when they give "faith" as reason for everything and just proceed accordingly.

Great post.

Does critical thinking negate the whole concept of religion and life after death?

Can a "critical" thinker also be a faithfull Christian?
Or a true follower of any organized religion?

I think too much as it is already.

I over think everything way too much.

It has caused me a lot of anxiety in the past. Especially when I over think my encounters with others.

"Did I say something that offended them ?", "Was I insensitive ?" , etc......

When it comes to problem solving, I always take the hardest route to get to a solution. I hope this proves to be a benefit to me when I re-enter the private sector work force.

Critical thinking is like squats for the brain. A def must if you want to strengthen your brain power. That is why lazy people who sit around and watch tv all day will never get a great job or move up in life.

Originally Posted by Doublebase

Critical thinking is like squats for the brain. A def must if you want to strengthen your brain power. That is why lazy people who sit around and watch tv all day will never get a great job or move up in life.

You can practice critical thinking while watching TV, especially the crap that's on now days, I do it all the time, I set there and think critically on how I would improve the show maybe, or how I would make the producer of said show suffer, or how many better directions they could have gone to have come up with an original ending...but generally I watch shows or movies that make me think anyway....but that's just how my 9th grade drop-out father raised me because he had never been taught to enjoy learning he instilled it into me from an early age so that now I feel like I am wasting time if my brain isn't cranking away ....

Originally Posted by brian lee

Great post.

Does critical thinking negate the whole concept of religion and life after death?

Can a "critical" thinker also be a faithfull Christian?
Or a true follower of any organized religion?

Dostoevsky
John Locke

Prince seems to over analyze things. He sees thing that I choose not to, I feel that makes me a happier person, yet I get taken a lot for being that way, so who is to say what is right?

I think things into the ground. This is good for seeing new solutions to a problem. This is very bad for sticking to a path long enough to reach a conclusion. "What if?" Those words have caused me a lot of problems. To make matters worse I am never in the same mood from one minute to the next. I will believe something with every fiber of my being only to be asking myself moments later what the hell was I thinking, that doesn't make sense at all.

Originally Posted by ROID

I over think everything way too much.

It has caused me a lot of anxiety in the past. Especially when I over think my encounters with others.

"Did I say something that offended them ?", "Was I insensitive ?" , etc......

When it comes to problem solving, I always take the hardest route to get to a solution. I hope this proves to be a benefit to me when I re-enter the private sector work force.

Oh fuck yes! Don't you just love having a video recorder in your head, but you can't evaluate the footage until the event is over. Then you get to watch yourself in a loop over and over and over until you start drinking or taking drugs to get it to stop.

Originally Posted by ROID

I over think everything way too much.

It has caused me a lot of anxiety in the past.

I too, used to over-think things.

And not necessarily bad things. Just things. Too much wasted thinking of "planning this or planning that."

And in the end, I either did it or not, or did something partially, depending on the circumstances.

In recent years, I changed my "thinking pattern or habits" and it's been for the better.

I do plan and "think" about things, but do it in a much shorter period.

Seriously, if we are over thinking yeah, it causes anxiety, perhaps indecision, and is also a waste of time and energy.

If I take things day by day in general, I accomplish the same things, as I'm much happier and content.