Patrick King - Learn To Think Using Thought Experiments: How to Expand Your Mental Horizons, Understand Metacognition, Improve Your Curiosity, and Think Like a Philosopher

Patrick King

Learn To Think Using Thought Experiments

How to Expand Your Mental Horizons, Understand Metacognition, Improve Your Curiosity, and Think Like a Philosopher

How to Expand Your Mental Horizons, Understand Metacognition, Improve Your Curiosity, and Think Like a Philosopher

By Patrick King

Social Interaction and Conversation Coach at www.PatrickKingConsulting.com

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Learn To Think Using Thought Experiments: How to Expand Your Mental Horizons, Understand Metacognition, Improve Your Curiosity, and Think Like a Philosopher

The Problem of the Runaway Trolley

The Zombie Cat

Physics First

Shadows Vs. Reality

Inside the Matrix

A Loss of Control

The Javelin Tells All

Shakespeare, I Presume?

Whats Half of Half?

Plank by Plank

The Man from the Swamp

Beam Me Up, Scotty

Do You Speak Chinese?

Whats a Beetle?

A Tale of Fish

There was a time when mankind knew so much less about the world. We take so much of whats around us as a given, forgetting where it came from. Look around you and youll see that almost everything was, at some point, discovered or created by some enterprising or curious human being. The devices you use daily, the symbols making up the language youre reading right now, the mechanics of the electricity powering your home, all the medical marvels that went into keeping you alive and well in this moment (Ignore the fact that someone once had to look at a cow and decide I will try to drink whatever comes out of these pink things.)

Each of these accomplishments had to be fought for and won, one tiny step at a time. Much of what our modern world is made of comes directly from the diligent effort of people working to understand the universeand create their own inventions. All this scientific and technological progress was made not simply by sheer force of will or strength, but by using the scientific method, and seeing the world in a way that prioritizes rational argument founded on sound empirical or logical data. In other words, the experiment is a mental tool so immense, so valuable, and so central to the survival of our species that its hard to imagine where wed be without it. It takes us from point A to point B, and it lets us know that we are directly affecting the world we inhabit.

Instead of cowering in the face of the unknown, the experiment allows you to systematically and logically ask questions of the world around you, and make sense of the answers. Its a tool to gradually pull back ignorance and reveal useful facts and information, unearth new possibilities, or show us where weve made an error.

Of course, in this classical view, you may be thinking of the quintessential experiment: a scientist in a lab poking around with test tubes or wires, or a clinical trial for a new medication. The truth is, we conduct experiments all the time, formally and informally, consciously and unconsciously. Any time we deliberately manipulate conditions around us and carefully note the outcome, we are doing an experiment. Granted, not every experiment is going to be rigorous or perfectly sound! Nevertheless, experimentation is a method of patterning and understanding our encounters with the world. The concept behind this book is that some of the best experiments can be done with nothing more than your mind.

Eons ago, humans had to learn things the hard way: if you wanted to know if a berry was poisonous or not, you ate it and hoped for the best. But, if you survived, everyone could learn from your actions without having to incur any risk themselves. Gradually, people could build on what they already knew so that less and less had to be done concretely, out there in the world. This is somewhat less efficient, and such experiments cannot always be seen.

Thought experiments are conducted in a similar spirit. If we explore new ideas, arguments and scenarios mentally rather than literally, were freed from so many limitations. What would be impossible or impractical to do physically is possible with nothing more than careful thought.

Thought experiments are not subject to any moral or natural laws, can be done relatively quickly and have (for the most part!) no real-world consequences. Their strength is that they give us the opportunity to fully flesh out certain hypothetical possibilities without committing to them practically. They allow us to discover aspects of ourselves we might not have otherwise, and think of the ramifications of certain possible acts long before we are technologically capable of them. There are countless innovators who, if asked where their inspiration came from, will point to speculative sci-fi from centuries prior, or whimsical what if questions that spurred their curiosity.

The thought experiments well be exploring in this book have all served a particular purpose in their historical context. However, in learning about them, we teach ourselves to reach outside our own habitual thoughts and beliefs. What philosophy in general, and thought experiments in particular, can teach us is twofold: firstly, that we are inhabiting a way of thinking at all, and secondly, that our way of thinking can be changed.

As you read on, the hope is that youll develop your own critical thinking skills, mental agility and self-awareness. Youll get comfortable thinking about thinking perhaps the most valuable and transferable skill there is! By learning to carefully consider the virtues and drawbacks of the very process of thinking itself, you give yourself the opportunity to spot bias, question assumptions, more deeply understand your beliefs andif youre luckyopen the door to a completely new idea.

Thought experiments are like a grand arena where you can take your brain out to play, to explore and to learn about itself, to grow larger and more robust. The ability to see not just what is but also what could be is fundamental to any endeavor that requires creativity or problem-solving acumen. It also helps you shift perspectives if necessary and consider something we seldom do: that we might be wrong! Manipulating thoughts, information, multiple variables, and coming up with an answer (for which there is no true right or wronga learned ability in itself) is something that can be applied to every walk of life.

Throughout history, thought experiments have allowed great thinkers and philosophers to see beyond their immediate grasp, to ask far-ranging questions and push the limits of human knowledge. Using thought experiments in your own life, however, will make you a more focused, more robust thinker with a cognitive and intellectual scope far wider than if youd never challenged yourself in this particular way.

Finally, perhaps the most important benefit to engaging in thought experiments is that you give yourself the chance to chew over questions for which there simply isnt an answer, even with infinitely advanced scientific, technological or philosophical tools. Training your brain to confidently engage with these sorts of questions is enriching beyond the quick satisfaction of solving a problem or optimizing what you already know.