Critical Thinkers - Getting To Genius?

In thinking about critical thinking observe and understand the following statements/axioms. Do they make sense? Why are they important to each other? See if the following two quotations resonate as two parts of something very connected.

"Without speculation there is no good and original thinking." - Charles Darwin There are certain identifiable parameters in the general science of the universe. They are known as Genetic Algorithms. "These genetic algorithms 'evolve' solutions to problems that resist linear thinking by generating populations of different solutions and then testing those solutions against 'programmed constraints'." - Lee Smolin

Not understanding something is often to admit defeat. So we don’t like to admit that. We often nod - suggesting that we understand and then at some point later – NAKED! – we are exposed. The two thoughts above will be very apposite if, like me you work to discern fact from context, ideas from dynamic situations and patterns from seeming chaos. It's an evolving process.

"Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. Facts and theories are not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away while scientists debate theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in midair pending the outcome." - Stephen Jay Gould

We often get confused and dazzled by our choices when confronted with any challenge to our ego. Whether to say we don't understand - or we would like more explanation - or we just admit it's going to be a journey of appreciation - a passage.

So it is with our ability to think.

There is something obvious and yet vital to appreciate about how we each think. The evolution of it. To reach a mastery in anything takes time and effort. You can see, touch and read and talk and ponder about stuff all you like. It won't just click. You do it when asked to, told to and when you know you should. It just won't stick. It can be very superficial. The obscurity of it can drag you down. Bits of it will frustrate enormously.

But you just don't really get it fully until you are rightly ready. When that final chunk of awakening to the whole beauty of it dawns. When you are ready and the understanding washes over you - it can take your breath away.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!