How to Think: The Sherlock versus Watson
In the modern world of ours, since the revolution of media and technology, we are living the age of "Information overload". If we are never use our reason and thinking rightly, we will be lost. There are lot of lies and also false information floating around everyday. Thus, it is necessary we need to have a clear thinking, so we are not trapped and also become bias in our understanding. Our distorted thinking could lead us to do make improper judgement also lead to an absurd action consequently.
To think again how to think is very crucial and it cannot be done by sitting nicely, and do nothing, In the book of Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman mentioned clearly that thinking need "considerable investation and effort". Apparently, not many books have been written, to deals with the basic principle of thinking which move beyond what Kahnemann have been presented in his book. Yet, for my surprise, Maria Konnikova does. Although the concept not really original, but her presentation is. She has a riveting way to deal with this subject, and bring us to a fresh perspectives on how we can use our reason as she execrated his ideas from one of the most popular iconic figure of thinking, Sherlock Holmes and his partner in crime, Dr. Watson. Let us start to venture deeper.
Basically Maria categorize thinking into two kind of system. First Sherlock System of thinking. Second, Watson System of thinking. According to Maria, most of the time, we operate our mind using the second system. Watson system of thinking is, she named as "Auto-Pilot Thinking" (APT). Auto Pilot Thinking is a thinking that tend to take everything face values. We never questioning everything, information, event and even the book that we read. This mode of thinking does not require much conscious thought and from here, now we know why the "auto-pilot" term come to the arena. Most of people are comfortable with this system, and has becoming a habitual to them.
Basically Maria categorize thinking into two kind of system. First Sherlock System of thinking. Second, Watson System of thinking. According to Maria, most of the time, we operate our mind using the second system. Watson system of thinking is, she named as "Auto-Pilot Thinking" (APT). Auto Pilot Thinking is a thinking that tend to take everything face values. We never questioning everything, information, event and even the book that we read. This mode of thinking does not require much conscious thought and from here, now we know why the "auto-pilot" term come to the arena. Most of people are comfortable with this system, and has becoming a habitual to them.
Maria says that to be able to think more clearly and greatly like Holmes, we need to have a diverse system, contrast to Watson System of thinking. To have Holmes system is to fully aware, attentive, and mindful always. "Everything is scrutinized and considered, after all the thoughtful process happening, only then conclusion come into form, and any views are to be accepted. All information should not be taken as fact, but only opinion until there are certain degree of examinations. The closest people in history that perhaps akin to the fictitious Holmes was Descartes. Some people has a radical view of him, that is to say Descrates promote skepticism (Cartesian Skepticism) so that we are not able to find any answer but at least, it keeps the conversation going on.Traditionally, the interpretation of Descartes was more into positive light as he replied to Father Bourdin and claimed that he was the first man in history that overthrown the doubt of the skeptics. His method of skeptics does not lead him to radical skeptics even more, but to find the basis of objective knowledge.
Questioning everything even the credibility of our own thought, until we cannot put any question left, this way, make us move closer to truth. Not just Descrates, the legacy of questioning has actually been preserved, and rooted since the time of Socrates. This is what Holmes system of thinking is all about for Holmes questions everything even post an irrelevant questions (so that we do not easily over-thrown what we easily thought as impossible possibility, which might be turned to be the case of truth) to build his Hypotheses, and then try his best to prove or disprove the Hypotheses from the data and information collected as Maria stated, "Holmes will investigate all lines of inquiry, eliminating them one by one until the one that remains, however improbable, must be the truth".
Not just everyone need to shift their system of thinking from Watson to Holmes individually, education has an important role here communally speaking. The education that will sow the auto-pilot thinking to the next generation is the education that promotes one direction interaction. In contrary, education that will make people becoming a better man, in term of using their mind and thinking is two way, the education that appreciate questions, encourage question to be flourished in the classroom. This is not an easy thing to do, a process, a journey but worth a try. Even Holmes himself, as Maria mentioned, could not have begun life with System Holmes when he was born. He need to moves from Watson system and arrived at Holmes system by tedious mind encoding.
Not just everyone need to shift their system of thinking from Watson to Holmes individually, education has an important role here communally speaking. The education that will sow the auto-pilot thinking to the next generation is the education that promotes one direction interaction. In contrary, education that will make people becoming a better man, in term of using their mind and thinking is two way, the education that appreciate questions, encourage question to be flourished in the classroom. This is not an easy thing to do, a process, a journey but worth a try. Even Holmes himself, as Maria mentioned, could not have begun life with System Holmes when he was born. He need to moves from Watson system and arrived at Holmes system by tedious mind encoding.
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