Your Thinking Machine

There is this cool, but complicated, thinking machine that sits between your two ears. You might think it looks like a grey blob, but I imagine it as a rather interesting machine that produces a custom version of “my truth.”

Maybe it looks like this:

You’ll note that the inputs to the machine are a blend of ingredients ranging from facts to opinions to disinformation to conspiracy theories.

It would be wonderful if all we had to do was “turn up” the facts and “turn off” the nasty stuff. But that’s unrealistic in today’s (social) media obsessed world.

Truth spinning

Our thinking machine has an internal truth spinning mechanism that uses, produces, and mixes two varieties of truth.

Objective Truth: Conclusionssupported by empirical evidence, rigorous analysis, or logical reasoning. The rules of addition and subtraction are examples of simple truths.

Personal Truth: Conclusions influenced by individual perspectives, emotions, or cultural and social contexts. Social, entertainment, and political preferences are examples of personal truths. Personal truths should not be confused with verifiable facts that are independent of personal beliefs or experiences.

There are times when complex situations require a blending of objective and personal truths. This blending creates unique versions of “my truth.” For example, when asked about the condition of a business the CFO will focus more on the P&L and consider the new marketing campaign. Whereas the Marketing VP will put more emphasis on the (hoped-for) success of the marketing campaign. Same business – two differing truths.

The challenge of creating “my truth” is that while personal truths are valid within the subjective realm of individual experience, we need to include objective truths that can be supported by evidence and logical reasoning within a particular domain or context. True for business – true for sports – true for politics.

My BIG concern

We, collectively, have all the thinking machine input valves wide open and we are flooded with opinions, disinformation, misinformation, and other junk such that our personal truths dominate our thinking.

• “Influencers” tell us what to think and feel and we let them do so.
• Political parties create ideologies that shut down objective truth.
• Talk radio creates subjective echoes in our heads that never quiet down.
• We don’t talk to each other – we yell at each other. We don’t want to find the truth; we want to win!

We are neglecting the search for objective truth, and we have forgotten how to think for ourselves!

Tuning your thinking machine

The concept of truth has been explored and debated throughout history by philosophers, scientists, and scholars from various disciplines. I’m none of the preceding – I’m just an OOG (Official Old Guy) who’s worried about what I’m seeing.

OK, let’s just assume that you / me / we want to think for ourselves. What might we do? Well, try some of the following:

• Recognize your personal biases. We all have some but cannot see them ourselves. Get a true friend to tell you where you are biased.
• Find objective information on topics that are important to you. Don’t get “factoids” from your personal news media – they’re biased even more than you.
• Shut your mouth and listen to the people/groups/tribes with which you disagree. Then see if there is any empathy left in your soul. They may be (partially) right.
• Consider context and learn about “them.” For example, the rich people in Congress may want to understand poor people – but they can’t. Their context of life is so different. Don’t just rely on statistics – spend some time with them.
• Learn the basics of critical thinking and use it. We all think – but we can learn to think better.
• (BIG finish here) Seek common ground and talk with one another. We are not enemies; we are humans trying to do the best we can.

What’s next?

Lately I’ve been writing about a broad variety of topics: Bigger Boxes, being relevant, and “thinking.” I’m considering a three-part workshop focused on “strengthening your business brain.” I’ll outline it and ask for comments and questions.

As always, please pass this on to others. They can sign up HERE.

Cheers,

Bill