American Critical Thinking (or lack thereof) in the Information Age

Over 2 million scientific papers are published every year (R).

Over 4 million blog posts are published every day (R).

Over 5,000 news articles are published in the US every day (R).

Close to 1 million books are published every year (R).

There are a few implications for this kind of future shock, or information overload:

• It makes it harder to gain certainty about any given topic
• It makes it even more important to be adaptable, humble, and willing to learn
• It makes it laughable when people say “do your research”, and assume people who don’t think like them haven’t done research, are sheeple, dumb, or ignorant

Certainty

Information overload makes it difficult to know a truth with absolute certainty. Even Socrates supposedly admitted, “I know that I know nothing”. And that was before the internet, social media, and fake news.

Humility

That doesn’t mean we have no hope of knowing anything. It just means we need to be willing to learn, adapt, and stay humble.

Do your research, analyze all sides, come to your conclusions, but realize you still might…