What to search for?
Whatever your answer to this question, you will likely find something searching on the web. Depending on the topic, you might in fact find more information than you could ever go through in a lifetime.
The problem, then, is not to find information. The problem is to orient oneself.
Knowledge, understood as the capacity to understand, remember and effectively communicate or utilize information, is of central importance to all human activity. Questions of knowledge and truth have been at the forefront of public debates forever. But with the advent of the internet, social media and AI geared towards influencing our behavior, these questions have been given a new dimension.
Claims to truth tend to be extremely important for us – especially if they happen to coincide with what we already believe. Why is this? In part, it appears to have to do with our need to orient ourselves in a sea of information. In order to tell useful information from mere white noise, we need a frame of reference. Without such a frame of reference, we quickly run into a problem which is yet more acute than not knowing – we would not know how to act.
Optimally, we would like to start from a solid foundation – from the bedrock, so to speak, certain truths that cannot be put into question. Using these truths as a measuring rod, we could then tell fake news from real ones. Science might be held up as an example to follow: A steadily growing body of knowledge produced by use of a rigorous method.
But on the other hand, not all things that we want to figure out as true or false appear to be as clear-cut as the truths dealt with in science. Whereas science appears to be highly successful at telling material things apart, or constructing mechanical or digital solutions to problems that we run into, it cannot define those problems for us, or, strictly speaking, weigh different problems against one another. Put somewhat differently, science offers no account of how to value things. Therefore, against the scientific outlook and endeavor, there seems to be cause also for skepticism. Whenever someone claims that their actions follow from bedrock truth, someone else may very likely be able to dig beneath that bedrock truth, and throw a new light on things.
There is a great temptation for individuals to simply allow themselves to be swallowed up by an identity, with its accompanying narrative, and to allow for this identity and narrative (through the people they associate with and the social media feed which perpetuates it) to tell true from false. To some extent, it may even be inevitable. But understanding the dynamics by which the internet, social media and AI of today function are the first steps towards thinking more critically about one’s situation.
The myriad of perspectives that the internet presents us with may mean that orientation has perhaps never been more difficult. But this difficulty need not be a bad thing. For one thing, it requires each individual to reflect critically not just on the information that they are presented with, but also their own actions.
Under the topic of The Technologies, we explored how information and communications technology (ICT) has been transforming our economies, politics and societies at large. In short, the increase of ICT capacity has become a goal in itself, alongside economic profit. Never have we had access to so much information, and yet there is much more to come. But the issue of how to value this information, how to decide which way it will inform our actions, remains an open question. Markets will provide their answers, as will totalitarian regimes and national and global policies at large.
At Radius we believe that you as an individual have the capacity to value the same information for yourself – and to act accordingly. Tentatively, we hold that the key lies in developing critical thinking alongside a capacity for informed action.
Critical thinking is a normative discipline, and as such, merely stating its central ideas will not provide a solution to the problem of critically evaluating information. This said, becoming acquainted with the discipline might still be of some use to you. The fundamentals of critical thinking may be said to be the following:
(1) Critical thinking operates on the assumption that logic provides a means of navigating the world. By reasoning rather than daydreaming, i.e., actively linking thoughts together rather than just letting them float free, we increase our chances of avoiding trouble and coming across great opportunity.
(2) Reasoning is externalized through the formulation of arguments. Put somewhat differently, the argument is the form of rational thinking. By pitting different arguments, and different speakers, against one another we can often collectively increase our understanding of complex issues in ways that are otherwise inaccessible to us.
(3) All arguments consist of premises, lending support to at least one conclusion. The premises purport to contain information about the state of things, and if they are true and are connected to one another and the argument’s conclusion in a logically strong manner, sufficient support for the conclusion is likely provided.
(4) In order to assess an argument, we need to develop a sub-set of three skills. The ability to interpret statements is needed to understand what a speaker intends to say. The ability to assess truth claims is needed to judge whether the premises of an argument are acceptable or not. The ability to think logically, finally, is needed to work out the relevance and adequacy of premises in relation to each other and to the conclusion. A useful shortcut to acquiring a good part of these skills is learning about common fallacies, i.e., kinds of arguments which may sound convincing but which are almost always wrong.
(5) When comparing different arguments, we need to always employ the principle of charity. This means interpreting the statements of a speaker in the most charitable way possible. In this way we dramatically increase our chances of obtaining and sharing useful information, as we minimize the risk of getting bogged down in futile misunderstandings.
(6) In order to correctly assess arguments in today’s world, an understanding of how the internet, AI, media (including social media) and the scientific community function is required. Here, other parts of the Radius platform might be of use to you.
(7) Finally, it is important to remember that acting in the world requires more than a knack for critical thinking. Having desires, letting your thoughts run free, going with a hunch – these things form an important part of life, too. You need to develop as a full person, not just a brain in a vat. Only in this way can your critical thinking amount to informed action.
Historian Yuval Noah Harari, in his popular scientific book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, gives similar but slightly less abstract advice. First, he urges everyone to try harder to tell reality from fiction, not expecting everything to come out perfectly clear, but nonetheless i) devoting time and energy to uncovering our own biases, and ii) checking our sources of information. Second, he advises against reading news for free (if something in the network society is free, then this is because someone gains in other ways from your consumption of it.)1 Third, concerning questions that are of special importance to one, one should always read the relevant scientific literature.
Becoming resentful towards all attempts at making sense of the world happens easily. And yet, if we are to be able to orient ourselves, we need to continuously posit some things as true and act accordingly. In this way we are treading the knife’s edge between absolute skepticism and absolute dogmatism.
This problem becomes acute in the schools of the 21st century. How do we teach children to become critically minded and self-sufficient, without at the same time making them disoriented and resentful? How can children be provided with useful tools of thinking and learning, without being made into mindless puppets? We will have to find out.
(1) Being a clever reader, you do right to wonder what Radius gains from providing you with news and information for free. We gain in two ways: By advancing our perspective on current tech development, and by forming a network of actors interested in this topic. We are highly interested in your personal or professional experience and opinion, so please do not hesitate to get in contact with us.
Education
Concerning the overarching problem of critical thinking and orientation in the world of internet, social media and AI, Harari gives the following hands-on advice to high school children:
i) Do not put excessive trust in adults, since they are probably not better equipped to deal with the ongoing radical change than you are,
ii) Do not trust in technology, since it might be helpful, but at the same time follows a logic of its own which might turn you into a pawn in its game,
iii) Do not trust in yourself, since the idea of “yourself” is little more than a reflection of state propaganda, ideological brainwashing and commercial advertising, but
iv) Know Thyself [my paraphrase], as read the inscription on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
In order to maintain the control over your own life, and in order to make an impression of your own on the future of life, you need to understand your own operative system. You need to understand who you are and what you want from life. This means questioning and getting rid of unnecessary illusions. It is not the same as trusting yourself, since it requires taking a more critical outlook on your biases and influences.
Exactly what methods will turn out to be successful in achieving a high quality education for the future remains unclear. With a bit of luck, the application of the new technology to educational environments might provide some benefits. The covid-19 pandemic meant a trial by fire for these kinds of activities – suddenly, millions of school children were forced to stay home and attend their classes online.
Prominent voices have suggested that, aiming to improve the critical thinking of students, education should be steered away from dispensing raw facts, which students may easily find on the internet anyway, towards teaching more advanced critical thinking and reasoning skills. Against this it could be argued that at least some raw facts, designated as true, are probably required if students are to be able to orient themselves.
To be sure, the education system already has another major challenge on its hands. With the ongoing changes in work tasks (see more about this under Work & Leisure) education will have to be fitted to the future of work.
Complex social and creative tasks, such as high-quality personal services, project development and existential guidance – these are the human work tasks of the 21st century. Constructing curricula to prepare students for these tasks will prove a challenge.
Concerning this problem, Harari advocates “the four C’s” of critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. He holds that schools should generally ascribe less importance to technical abilities and instead emphasize general abilities. Harari underlines that the workers of tomorrow do not only need to come up with new ideas and invent stuff – above all, they need to be able to reinvent themselves over and over again. Similar ideas have also been put forward by founder of Alibaba Jack Ma.
So what is actually being done? In the EU at least, considerations analogue to the one’s outlined above seem to have gained some traction.
In a report on the future of work presented to the European Commission in May 2019, the most important thing for education was said to be the provision of the skills necessary to take on different, perpetually unknown activities – i.e., the same as Harari and others had suggested. Constructing curricula geared to meet the requirements of the emerging digital world would mean reviewing core subjects. It would also mean setting up an ecosystem of lifelong learning. In the face of a constant stream of new requirements on the job market, opportunity for lifelong education might help workers keep up.
Importantly, the report held that “the integration of computing into the school curriculum must not come at the expense of arts and humanities [my bold lettering], which hone the creative contextual and analytical skills that will probably become more, not less, important in a world shaped by AI.”
In a communication in August 2020, released together with its Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027, the European Commission stated that “education and training are key for personal fulfilment, social cohesion, economic growth and innovation … the provision of digital skills for all during the digital and green transitions is of strategic importance for the EU”.
The plan itself appears to focus around two key points: i) The deployment of the new technology in schools with the aim of improving the quality of education, and ii) giving all students a basic set of digital competences, required to “live, work, learn and thrive in a world increasingly mediated by digital technologies”.
As one of its guiding principles, the plan states that digital skills are essential for life in a world such as this, going on to state that “information overload and the lack of effective ways to verify information make it all the more necessary for individuals to be able to critically approach, assess and filter information and be more resilient against manipulation”.
On the whole, these suggestions – pertaining to achieving all-rounded skill sets, lifelong learning, deployment of technology in education, and critical thinking – could well be pointing in the right direction.
Who knows, for sure anyway? One day we just might.
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Sources for the above
Official documents
EU Commission: Communications COM(2020) 624 and COM(2021) 205, Expert report “The Future of Work? Work of the Future!” (2019), Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027
Literature
Castells, Manuel. Communication Power (2nd ed, Oxford University Press 2013)
Castells, Manuel. The Information Age Trilogy I: The Rise of the Network Society (2nd ed, Wiley-Blackwell 2010)
Harari, Yuval Noah. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (Spiegel and Grau 2018)
Hughes, William; Lavery, Jonathan; Doran, Katheryn. Critical Thinking (6th ed, Broadview Press 2010)
Online resources (visited April 2021)
Artificial Intelligence News. artificialintelligence-news.com
MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/
State of AI Conference. https://www.stateof.ai/
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