Love this. The graduate school library I used had an inscription cut into the mantle over the library entrance: Seek the truth, comes whence it may, cost what it will.
John, In the new year I'll reach out to Don Runkle. I just got slammed with commitments to open two new schools so I've been running like I were crazy. At the same time I've had good work underway on an invention that caught more time than I anticipated. So, I've been short of time lately. Merry Christmas
John, thanks for the valuable find. I can already see how I will use several of the points for my own upcoming articles. Home run!!
Liked the first version (25 min) for the rich and engaging visuals and the precision and clarity of each point. The subtitles added more modalities to the learning experience. Will be sharing this with friends. Especially those with whom we disagree.
I found the shorter video valuable as a transition for those who have a shorter attention span and prefer pre-formed steps rather than create your own model following the concepts in version 1. Will be sharing this with some HS and college students I know.
This is the crux of the decline of any society; definitely here in America. The curriculum of ALL schools and teaching here must be changed or there will continue to be collective stupidity. The literacy of our Founding Fathers was superb. We need our school to emulate those teaching and learning methods.
Terry: This is my top work priority — fixing US K-12 public education. What's at stake is incalculable. The good news is that I am making some progress. I hope to be able to share this with my Substack readers in the near future.
Both get the main point across and define the problem with notable quotes from famous philosophers.
I think the first one is more professional while the second might appeal to our youth because it is more friendly and less intimidating. But, America may need intimidation to actually awaken. We seem to only wake up when catastrophe strikes.
Over at my GelbspanFiles.com blog, I specialize in critical thinking applied to the (false) notion that skeptic climate scientists are "paid by Big Oil to undercut the scientific consensus about CO2 pollution causing global warmimg." True believers accept that without question, never apparently thinking to ask, "what's your proof for the corruption accusation?" I did. Since I grew up in the face of the 1970s global cooling craze, I thought the new warming craze of the late '80s looked really suspect. But in 2009 when internet pages told me about 'leaked industry memos' proving skeptics scientists were bribed, I simply asked, "may I see those memos in their full context?" While phrases from them were virally quoted, my effort to find the actual memos was like pulling teeth, as if the memos were some kind of state secret. Turns out when I did locate them, they were the moral equivalent of the "Steele Dossier." If we'd had objective, unbiased news reporters asking the same question almost 3 decades ago, that whole accusation angle of the climate issue could have been blown out of the sky by the late 1990s.
But even as it relates to totally non-political topics - hobbies, even - I see a bizarre collective stupidity happening. Within one of my own hobbies where I do internet searches for a rather rare 1970s item, I stumbled across one result of a Reddit social media post where a guy said he was writing a book which had the item as a story element, and he asked if anybody had the item to share photos of different angles of it; he was not aware of any locally he could look at in person. I thought his inquiry was astonishing – if he had simply done an internet search for the item's name and then clicked on "Images," he would have seen literally thousands of photos of exactly what he wanted to see. Yes, it is indeed rare, I haven't seen one in person in nearly two decades myself, but it's most certainly easily found on the internet.
But therein lies the double-edge sword of internet searches. Since I owned one of these items for 5 years in the mid 2000s and have subsequently done weekly internet searches for others right up to the present day, folks might call me one of the best go-to experts on it. What's distressing to see in my searches is the huge amount people who clearly have done no more than 15 minutes of searching on these, who then offer and/or repeat outright guesses about how many are produced, how many are left, what color they were from the factory, etc. In one instance of pure guesswork, a line from a long-ago classified ad line has been repeated many times, where if the people repeating it gave a moment's thought to the much more common different configuration variation of the rare item, they would say to themselves, "wait, this assertion now about the rare item CANNOT possibly be correct." But indeed, I saw one 'old rare items social media influencer' spit out the same utterly false line in a virally repeated social media video. Such is how the collective stupidity situation continues, the video is still out there even after others corrected the guy in the video comment section, when he should've taken it down over the shame of his mistake, or at least added a prominent edit to it acknowledging his error.
Maybe this is trivial when applied to hobbies, but consider how collective stupidity impacts bigger aspects of our lives: for example, legions of people still believe Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by J6 Trump insurrectionists (he was NOT), and that four other officers lost their lives at the hands of that "mob" (an egregiously false assertion). And just this past Nov 25th, yet another "ExxonKnew" lawsuit was filed in Washington state as a "class action" one ... which relies on the demonstrably unsupportable 'leaked memos evidence' to claim fossil fuel industry disinformation campaigns happened, an accusation I can prove 6 ways to Sunday is NOT true.
Russell: TY for a good parallel story. Critical Thinking is needed in almost EVERY aspect of life: health, relationships, employment, parenting, etc., etc.
I liked the second presentation because it wasn't as creepy, visually and narratively, as the first. When I was quite young I read a saying that has stayed with me all my life. "If I were meant to be like everyone else, I would never have been given the gift of thought, for to follow the crowd takes no thought at all." I used this to justify the fact that I was very different from all the other kids. I don't use a smart phone, my "TV" is reading books and I live far from the madding crowds. I feel very bad for the kids today. From our educational system to violent video games to the saturation of the internet in our lives, the chaotic bombardment has to be overwhelming. Just being a kid is tough enough. Teaching them how to disconnect from the hive mind and think for themselves might save a whole lot of young lives.
SM:TY for your comments. I didn't find the first video creepy, so that was a new insight.... Good that your mom and day encouraged you to be different.
We are both the same! No Cell phone! No TV! I have a library of books. I also live far from the madding crowd! I believe that we were raised in far different times...which had values. We learned what was important. Technology has created mentally and physically sick adults and children with its radiation, etc. Nature cures! Fresh air and sunlight! This is what children aren't getting. In addition, mind destroying content on smart phones. We had no TV or electronic devices, as children and i am so grateful. I was married to a TV addict...who turned on the TV as soon as he came home from work. When I left, I didn't want a TV. I stopped watching almost 50 years ago, except if there were a classic movie. I live with my daughter and we don't watch TV. We have a screen to watch old movies...every so often.
Yes, yes, yes! Getting the kids outside is critical. If they aren't physically active, they become mental vegetables. The healthy mind needs a healthy body. Nature does cure! Fresh air and sunlight are what children need to be healthy, as well as a strict curfew on all electronics. Do they even have gym anymore in school?
Jordan: TY for the followup. I started reading your article, but stopped after the third chapter. My apology, but I have too much on my plate to read lengthy material. That said, from what I read, it sounds like you are on the right path.
Love this. The graduate school library I used had an inscription cut into the mantle over the library entrance: Seek the truth, comes whence it may, cost what it will.
Blessings for your work on Critical thinking.
Marty: Thank you for your support.
John, In the new year I'll reach out to Don Runkle. I just got slammed with commitments to open two new schools so I've been running like I were crazy. At the same time I've had good work underway on an invention that caught more time than I anticipated. So, I've been short of time lately. Merry Christmas
John, thanks for the valuable find. I can already see how I will use several of the points for my own upcoming articles. Home run!!
Liked the first version (25 min) for the rich and engaging visuals and the precision and clarity of each point. The subtitles added more modalities to the learning experience. Will be sharing this with friends. Especially those with whom we disagree.
I found the shorter video valuable as a transition for those who have a shorter attention span and prefer pre-formed steps rather than create your own model following the concepts in version 1. Will be sharing this with some HS and college students I know.
Greag finds. Thanks.
John: TY for sharing your sensible views.
This is the crux of the decline of any society; definitely here in America. The curriculum of ALL schools and teaching here must be changed or there will continue to be collective stupidity. The literacy of our Founding Fathers was superb. We need our school to emulate those teaching and learning methods.
Terry: This is my top work priority — fixing US K-12 public education. What's at stake is incalculable. The good news is that I am making some progress. I hope to be able to share this with my Substack readers in the near future.
thank you for your tireless work. Incalculable is an accurate word!! I enthusiastically await this amazing breakthrough.
Both get the main point across and define the problem with notable quotes from famous philosophers.
I think the first one is more professional while the second might appeal to our youth because it is more friendly and less intimidating. But, America may need intimidation to actually awaken. We seem to only wake up when catastrophe strikes.
Ditto on what Jim says right above.
Over at my GelbspanFiles.com blog, I specialize in critical thinking applied to the (false) notion that skeptic climate scientists are "paid by Big Oil to undercut the scientific consensus about CO2 pollution causing global warmimg." True believers accept that without question, never apparently thinking to ask, "what's your proof for the corruption accusation?" I did. Since I grew up in the face of the 1970s global cooling craze, I thought the new warming craze of the late '80s looked really suspect. But in 2009 when internet pages told me about 'leaked industry memos' proving skeptics scientists were bribed, I simply asked, "may I see those memos in their full context?" While phrases from them were virally quoted, my effort to find the actual memos was like pulling teeth, as if the memos were some kind of state secret. Turns out when I did locate them, they were the moral equivalent of the "Steele Dossier." If we'd had objective, unbiased news reporters asking the same question almost 3 decades ago, that whole accusation angle of the climate issue could have been blown out of the sky by the late 1990s.
But even as it relates to totally non-political topics - hobbies, even - I see a bizarre collective stupidity happening. Within one of my own hobbies where I do internet searches for a rather rare 1970s item, I stumbled across one result of a Reddit social media post where a guy said he was writing a book which had the item as a story element, and he asked if anybody had the item to share photos of different angles of it; he was not aware of any locally he could look at in person. I thought his inquiry was astonishing – if he had simply done an internet search for the item's name and then clicked on "Images," he would have seen literally thousands of photos of exactly what he wanted to see. Yes, it is indeed rare, I haven't seen one in person in nearly two decades myself, but it's most certainly easily found on the internet.
But therein lies the double-edge sword of internet searches. Since I owned one of these items for 5 years in the mid 2000s and have subsequently done weekly internet searches for others right up to the present day, folks might call me one of the best go-to experts on it. What's distressing to see in my searches is the huge amount people who clearly have done no more than 15 minutes of searching on these, who then offer and/or repeat outright guesses about how many are produced, how many are left, what color they were from the factory, etc. In one instance of pure guesswork, a line from a long-ago classified ad line has been repeated many times, where if the people repeating it gave a moment's thought to the much more common different configuration variation of the rare item, they would say to themselves, "wait, this assertion now about the rare item CANNOT possibly be correct." But indeed, I saw one 'old rare items social media influencer' spit out the same utterly false line in a virally repeated social media video. Such is how the collective stupidity situation continues, the video is still out there even after others corrected the guy in the video comment section, when he should've taken it down over the shame of his mistake, or at least added a prominent edit to it acknowledging his error.
Maybe this is trivial when applied to hobbies, but consider how collective stupidity impacts bigger aspects of our lives: for example, legions of people still believe Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by J6 Trump insurrectionists (he was NOT), and that four other officers lost their lives at the hands of that "mob" (an egregiously false assertion). And just this past Nov 25th, yet another "ExxonKnew" lawsuit was filed in Washington state as a "class action" one ... which relies on the demonstrably unsupportable 'leaked memos evidence' to claim fossil fuel industry disinformation campaigns happened, an accusation I can prove 6 ways to Sunday is NOT true.
Russell: TY for a good parallel story. Critical Thinking is needed in almost EVERY aspect of life: health, relationships, employment, parenting, etc., etc.
Jim: Thank you.
I liked the second presentation because it wasn't as creepy, visually and narratively, as the first. When I was quite young I read a saying that has stayed with me all my life. "If I were meant to be like everyone else, I would never have been given the gift of thought, for to follow the crowd takes no thought at all." I used this to justify the fact that I was very different from all the other kids. I don't use a smart phone, my "TV" is reading books and I live far from the madding crowds. I feel very bad for the kids today. From our educational system to violent video games to the saturation of the internet in our lives, the chaotic bombardment has to be overwhelming. Just being a kid is tough enough. Teaching them how to disconnect from the hive mind and think for themselves might save a whole lot of young lives.
SM:TY for your comments. I didn't find the first video creepy, so that was a new insight.... Good that your mom and day encouraged you to be different.
We are both the same! No Cell phone! No TV! I have a library of books. I also live far from the madding crowd! I believe that we were raised in far different times...which had values. We learned what was important. Technology has created mentally and physically sick adults and children with its radiation, etc. Nature cures! Fresh air and sunlight! This is what children aren't getting. In addition, mind destroying content on smart phones. We had no TV or electronic devices, as children and i am so grateful. I was married to a TV addict...who turned on the TV as soon as he came home from work. When I left, I didn't want a TV. I stopped watching almost 50 years ago, except if there were a classic movie. I live with my daughter and we don't watch TV. We have a screen to watch old movies...every so often.
Yes, yes, yes! Getting the kids outside is critical. If they aren't physically active, they become mental vegetables. The healthy mind needs a healthy body. Nature does cure! Fresh air and sunlight are what children need to be healthy, as well as a strict curfew on all electronics. Do they even have gym anymore in school?
Fresh air? Do you understand the high levels of aluminum and strontium that are in the air now?
Most likely highs schools would still have team sports, but so many children are unhealthy in America; and have no energy. Who knows?.
Jordan: TY for the followup. I started reading your article, but stopped after the third chapter. My apology, but I have too much on my plate to read lengthy material. That said, from what I read, it sounds like you are on the right path.