(8 minute read)

(From previous post): As you can imagine, worldviews are vital. They determines the “how” or “why” someone lives their life the way they do. Each worldview is as unique as every person.

The first step in determining fact from fiction is knowing that you have a worldview. You must find or determine what that worldview is (all a part of “knowing thyself”). Later, I will recommend a method to turn it on and off when needed for those big decisions.

If you are unsure about your specific worldview, several online resources can help you figure out it. Be diligent. Look for information coming from reputable websites, people, or organizations. I assume that at some time you have looked inward to define who you are. See my previous work Know Thyself for more information.

Your Best Life Depends On It

“(Critical thinking) …is the careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment (belief) about a claim”

Brook Moore & Richard Parker, Critical Thinking, McGraw – Hill, 2016

Human beings stand out from the rest of the animal kingdom because of our ability for higher reasoning. Animals have mental capacities like remembering where to find food sources. They also learn which environments are safer than others. Human beings have similar reasoning skills but have developed the capacity to deduce and build solutions to complex problems.

Indeed, it’s that kind of thinking. It has given us the ability to literally run the world. Or ruin it, depending on your worldview.

Part of the higher reasoning process has a built in bullshit detector. It includes the ability to evaluate what people say, do, or write. This allows us to decide whether they are being truthful or not. That BS detector is built into our DNA and all of us are born with it.

You can become proficient in sniffing out the fakes from the real. It just requires some deliberate attempts at exercising it more often. But it requires a little more effort than what you’ve been doing up to this point.

Well, things are going to be better for you from here on out.

This higher reasoning skill is our ability to collect bits of information. We then connect these bits to solve complex problems. Einstein is the poster boy for using and promoting the use of higher reasoning in the human species.

“The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”

Albert Einstein, New York Times, 1921

Higher reasoning is not only memorizing facts and figures. We collect as much information as we can. This helps us make valued judgments and responses. It also helps us solve real problems as they arise every day. In so doing the first thing we do is to evaluate the information. Evaluating some information is easier than others.

For example, let’s evaluate this. The President of the US is elected to office. He serves a four-year term.

Is this a statement of fact or a statement of opinion?

It is a statement of fact because we have a plethora of trusted definitive sources that can verify this statement.

However, if you were to read: The US must further its war effort on terrorism. This is necessary to protect it from enemy attack.

Fact or opinion?

This is an opinion because there is no trusted definitive sources that can verify this statement.

That your Uncle Jimmy says this is fact does not make it so. As much as you love him your uncle is not a definitive source of information.

Higher Reasoning and Bias

Exercising our bullshit detector is not always easy. It requires effort. Sometimes a lot of effort. This is true because:

It is easier to make judgments based on opinions and biases than to evaluate facts and arguments.

Me

There’s nothing like quoting oneself.

Look, it’s not really such a profound statement, I know. But it deserves a little attention. This is the one that gets us in trouble the most. And, again, you can thank our ancestors for this one, too.

Way back, when we were still a hunter and gathering species, our ancestors learned about the world. They discovered a few things about the world in which they lived. One of those things learned was the ability to reason enough to make the right decisions to stay alive.

I imagine it went something like this.

A hunting party goes out on a much needed expedition. The tribe needs to eat to stay alive and lately the hunting has not been that great. Running low on food the hunters head out.

About an hour later, they come upon an area that they have never hunted before. To the left is a large expanse of land with tall grass and very few trees. To the right, a series of large rocks. One of the hunters approaches the rocks. Suddenly, a large tiger pounces on him. The tiger kills the hunter in one fell swoop.

The rest of the hunters run in the opposite direction; the fight or flight instinct already ingrained within them. Once back within the safety of the tribe the hunters start to talk about the tragedy.

“Did you see what happened to Bob?”

“Did I see what happened to Bob? What am I, hard of seeing? Of course I saw it.”

“Where did that tiger come from?”

“I’m not sure. But I think we should avoid all large rocks from here on out.”

This was a very important step in human evolution.

It meant that those who had the ability to remember important events and lessons had a better chance of surviving. They learned from them, built on them, and passed them on to the next generations. Becoming an evening meal for a predator was bad for Bob. Still, it was good for our surviving ancestors. It kept them and, subsequently, us off the menu.

As for the other Bobs who didn’t learn? Well, their chance of eventually becoming drained and extinct from the gene pool only increased.

The human innate fight or flight instinct was born, evolved, and still with us to this day. It comes in handy when one doesn’t want to be eaten by tigers or other perceived dangers. It keeps us on our toes. In a split second, we decide to run the other way or take on whatever beast confronts us.

Later on, we will examine what is real and what isn’t. For a moment, follow me as we exercise another thought experiment.

Imagine you are walking alone in a field. It’s a beautiful day. The sky is blue with not a cloud. There is a soft wind and the grass moves like waves in the ocean. The smell of spring flowers fills the air. It’s good to be outside.

Suddenly, you look down and see a long, black, slender thing. You know exactly what it is and your body reacts quicker than you can say the word.

SNAKE!

What happens in that split second?

Our mind races. The heart pumps faster. Blood pressure shoots up. Our airways open up, increasing oxygen to the lungs. We start to perspire. Meanwhile, the body pumps out a number of chemicals creating a cocktail elixir. These prepare us for the big fight or flight instinct.

Just as we are ready to decide which action to take we take a second look. We sigh in relief.

Oh, it’s only a stick!

Our second reaction is usually a laugh. Then a little inner dialogue. Tell me if you’ve heard this one before.

“You dummy. It’s just a ____.”

It’s just a stick. But we couldn’t tell our body or brain that when we first encountered it. No. That was taken care for us by one of those instincts handed down to us. In this case, one of those instincts that really makes it difficult to be hard on ourselves. After all, it could have just as easily been a snake.

So, we are left alive for another day to fight those “anaconda” tree branches.

The perceived danger seemed real enough though. The same fight or flight instinct that keeps us safe can also be triggered by perceived threats. This can cause us anxiety and lead to moments of making bad choices. It comes in handy when fighting real and perceived snakes. Still, how do we handle more complex decisions when we need to decide fact from fiction?

Read Decoding Lies: Pt. 3