A brief #criticalThinking exercise that made Democrats less interested in sharing misinformation (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-07578-5) failed to impact COVID #vaccine #conspiracyTheory beliefs and #vaccineHesitancy.

Check out the #registeredReport: https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2025.2491598

¿Es más arriesgada la vida virtual o la vida real? ¿Estamos dejando atrás el cuerpo en favor de la simulación?

En este vídeo me apoyo en autores como Giddens, Marx y Bernat Castany para pensar el riesgo, la agencia, y la pérdida de lo corpóreo en la era digital.

youtu.be/GfxllJq1I2g

#Philosophy
#DigitalRisks
#Embodiment
#CriticalThinking
#DigitalAlienation
#SimulationWorld
#ModernPhilosophy
#KarlMarx
#AnthonyGiddens
#BernatCastany
#BodyAndTechnology

"What the herd hates most is the one
who thinks differently;
It's not so much the opinion itself,
but the boldness of wanting to think for yourself - an ability of which they themselves are not capable."

- Arthur Schopenhauer.

#ArgumentMapping is supposed to improve #argumentation, but argument map classes are often flipped (vs. lecture).

So is it #logic explanation or Socratic discussion that helps?

One experiment found that it's probably the latter.

https://doi.org/10.30191/ETS.202504_28(2).TP06

GenAI boosts productivity—but does it weaken our minds? As AI handles more for us, skills like critical thinking may fade. Are we outsourcing too much of our intelligence? #AI #CriticalThinking https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/19/dont-ask-what-ai-can-do-for-us-ask-what-it-is-doing-to-us-are-chatgpt-and-co-harming-human-intelligence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6E7nHFsNsw
The Art of Justifying Evil -- DarkMatter2525

> The way some people answer the problem of evil can be an avenue to atrocity.

Best quote according to @BaconJets:

> When you're a child, you have imaginary friends. When you're an adult, you have imaginary enemies.

#ProblemOfEvil #DarkMatter2525 #Atheism #Philosophy #CriticalThinking #ImaginaryEnemies #ReligionDebate #Morality #JustifyingEvil”

#3GoodThings

1. Student 1 said how much she loved the #Poe stories we've read thus far this quarter ("Masque of the Red Death," "The Black Cat," "The Man of the Crowd").

2. Student 2 said he was excited to be writing an essay on how Poe's absurdism anticipated Camus' nihilism.

3. Student 3 wanted to hear more about why I thought transitions were so important to a successful argument.

#CriticalThinking
#Humanities
#Literature

"But even critical thinking is not a panacea against fascism-some of the twentieth century's greatest thinkers, including the philosopher Martin Heidegger were fascists." Jason Stanley *Erasing History*

Along the lines of what I've been saying about asking questions, being curious and promoting curiosity, avoiding talking points, and sticking to core values in discussion.

This applies to political dogma as well.

"The only thing that can get someone to think critically about their dogma is to think about their foundation for the dogmas, which is their sense of themselves, their worldview, and their social identities that are important to them."

(Probably paraphrased slightly.)

https://youtu.be/lzr_1jEkq7Y

I used to be able to search for things using a search engine. It would point me to a source of information, I could decide for myself if the source was good or not. But not anymore. Recently I just wasted a lot of time trying to find something using a search engine only to get lost in an ocean of AI slop.

I finally gave in and asked my question to ChatGPT and it answered my question perfectly, it even showed me where it got it’s sources of information. The places it linked me to were either no longer existent (if ever) or only vaguely related. But it at least created the appearance of citing factual sources of information, in whatever way the statistical models have been trained to give that impression to the humans who use it.

In Orwell’s novel “1984,” we saw how a single government agency took all control over information, how the staff would keep a database of facts but constantly alter these facts to fit the view of reality that their despot “Big Brother” wanted the citizens to believe. The same thing happens now with LLMs presenting a very carefully tuned image of the facts in the database.

AI chat bots are an innovative new method of brainwashing, one which nobody could have ever imagined possible even a few years ago: get everyone to trust a mechanical Big Brother because it chats with you like a friendly fellow human would.

(Full article here.)

If you only apply your critical thinking skills when you disagree with something you aren't actually a critical thinker.

How to win an argument with a toddler: You can’t.
#criticalthinking
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/04/14/godin-arguments-with-toddlers

A #criticalThinking exercise reduced Dems' #fakeNews sharing intent, but not Reps' (N > 1k).

CT exercise: answer 3 questions (with an alluring-but-false option), and then read correct answers, explanations, and instructions to think more reflectively.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-07578-5

The Slow Collapse of #CriticalThinking in #OSINT due to #AI https://www.dutchosintguy.com/post/the-slow-collapse-of-critical-thinking-in-osint-due-to-ai

- person 1 posts an image with a link to a podcast, with the corresponding copy
- person 2 shares the post
- person 3 comments on the post of person 2 saying "such an interesting topic! I hope someone has recorded it"
- person 2 replies with link to the podcast on the original post

Are #SocialNetworks to blame for our societal problems or is there something deeper at work?