Sacred Cow, Batman, that's some motivated reasoning!

I have been thinking, A LOT, about critical thinking. About how we as a species can work out what is most likely to be true, and also work out how best to minimise harm and facilitate good things (what even *are* good things?).

A most unnerving thing happened the day before yesterday, when I was scrolling through Twitter (wading through Twitter?). I'd returned to Twitter after a healthy break, like the weak-willed worm I am. Someone was saying how more people should learn Critical Thinking Skills, and a guy replied saying that he taught them. He had a diagram and everything. The thing is, I recognised that guy. I recognised him because a few months ago I read his tweets as he spouted the most flagrant nonsense.

Or was it nonsense? I'm not going to go into it, because either he asserts utter nonsense even though he teaches critical thinking, or I believe a logical and true position is utter nonsense even though I've read books like Stuart Sutherland's Irrationality and listened to Steven Novella's Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills (I know, I'd bet on that Twitter guy too. Those are both great books though). Either way, it's possible to learn about critical thinking skills, genuinely want to think critically, and be very, very wrong.

But here is what I think trips up even the most sceptical of sceptics: motivated reasoning. I think that if we want to think something, it is incredibly difficult for us to fairly weigh the arguments for an against. At the moment, I believe it may be the single biggest stumbling-block to clear thinking.

I now have a few tricks I use to try and side-step my biases. The first and most important of these is to admit to myself what I want to be true, and list the reasons why I want it to be true. In other words, identify my sacred cows. Once I have them identified, I can tie bells round their necks. The jingling of the bell - bear with me, this is one tortuous metaphor - will alert me that I am being led astray by the bias of a sacred cow, instead of following the... elk? The Elk of Truth.

Next time, I will discuss what to do if the Elk of Truth leads you into the Valley of Despair. (Involves Tents of Wine).