Running and Thinking

Everyone can run. You learn as a child to walk, and then you figure out how to run on your own. But consider the 100 meter dash, then consider the 10 kilometer marathon; you know that there are different skills to acquire to do either of them well. You need some training, and you need some knowledge to run either of these tracks properly. You can't just use your normal running capabilities to run these races; well you can but you risk injury or unnecessary exhaustion. The racing track also affects how you will run: the cross country run will have different dangers for you as opposed to a nice flat level paved road. We all know and respect athletes who dedicate themselves to perfect their skills for the variety of obstacles that they will face.

Now, lets look at thinking. Everyone can think. You learn as a child to memorize, then you figure out how to think all on your own. But consider wisdom, then consider contemplation; why do you assume that these aspects are not abilities or skills that can be honed and developed? Why do you assume that none of us should dedicate some time to cultivate these highly important attribute? The terrain the thinker has to face would be the different subjects of knowledge, we may dedicate alot of energy mapping out the terrain but we do not know how to apply our "thinking" to "run" on these different terrains. We do not allow ourselves to hone our skills of thinking. It is considered unproductive at best, pure laziness at worse.

The runner has to know more than the map of the track, he has to run it several times and feel the ground under his feet, and he gets a budget to do this (not nearly enough than he needs, but that is another discussion). The thinker is assumed to have enough by just having him memorize the map, the thinker is assumed to have enough by not training himself to think.... because anyone can think just like anyone can run. Yeah? Have a race with a trained athlete in running and see how pathetic you are. Well its the same thing with thinking. Unfortunately the bad thinker can not perceive that he has lost the race and thinks that the memorization of the map of the racing circuit is the epitome of knowledge.

Some scholar guy, deBono (right spelling?), does point you out towards the right direction by saying that thinking is a skill and that anyone can learn the skill. Cool info from him! But he only limits himself to general thinking much like the general physical education teacher limits himself to general running. Contemplation or wisdom are not really addressed in deBono's theories, but that is ok. It is still highly valuable, even though he has a layman's comprehension of philosophers of old, this can be forgiven because his target audience are not philosophy students but rather the general public who have similar assumptions of what philosophy is.

What I would like to see is the creation of a thinking social class. We have athletes, we have artists, we have scientists.... so why not thinkers? The thinker is a combination of the athlete, artist and scientist. He would combine the grace and perseverence of the athlete, the imagination and creativity of the artist, with the focus and the love of details of the scientist. The thinker would be an advisor who takes the time to think of several issues and sees the long-term implications of decisions. The thinker is not synonymous with leadership, because they have to concentrate on making decisions and making sure that the decisions are carried out.... no, the thinker gives alternative options which have their high points and low points. The leader will choose which option to follow. The thinker must spend his time thinking, not leading.

How many disasters have we faced that would have been prevented, if we had someone paid to think about what we are doing and modifying things accordingly? The 2 opposite extremes of the listeriosis situation would definitely not have happened. (see previous blogs for that story) Better training for the RCMP officers would have been implemented so that they questioned the logic behind the behavior of the foreigner who could not speak english when he entered Canada and was stuck in the airport for 10 or so hours. They would not have tasered him, they would have demanded a translator and offered some food. (Imagine a first contact situation in a Star Trek episode, where the stranger is approached with peaceful intentions yet still using force as a backup in case the situation warrants it)...

But then again, the individual would not have had to wait for 10 hours because there would have been a thinker who would have wondered multiple scenarios which would include a stranger arriving at an airport without the ability to speak the language and the design of the airport would have been modified immediately to cover this situation. Roleplaying reactions of alternate viewpoints is second nature to a thinker. Never assuming that something is X, just because a majority believes it to be X.... what about the other culture who sees Y instead? How do we communicate our intention? The thinker considers these things. Our society moves too quickly to produce.... its X because we don't have time to consider anything else (time is money) and too bad if the other culture doesn't understand, they'll just be eliminated in a social evolution type of justice (the strong survive, while the weak are eliminated). Everyone must adapt to the X.

The airport incident of the taser is an example of a stranger who did not adapt to the "obvious" ways of doing things and when he got angry (which is entirely normal), the RCMP was trained to deal with a malcontent by showing reasonable force. No thinking, no judgment, no contemplation, no wisdom, just a show of force to explain that one does not get angry and throw things around. I wonder if any of the implicated RCMP officers had a nightmare where they were in a foreign area and no one understood anything and then some uniformed individual shows up and starts babbling incomprehensably while pushing them around? But I do not blame any of the RCMP officers individually, they are victims of a training methodology in a production-prime society that discourages independent thinking or criticism. Follow the training, do not question orders. This they did, with the unfortunate results. Do not condemn them because we all follow orders from our bosses blindly.... and our compliance is as damaging to our society as the RCMP's were to that foreigner who died from being tasered.