Authority
So much of what we believe is based on some authority figure telling us that something is true. As children, we learn to stop questioning when we’re told “Because I said so.” (More on this later.) As adults, we learn to stop questioning when people say “Because that’s how it works.” The implicit message is “understanding be damned — shut up and stop bothering me.” It’s not intentional or personal. OK, sometimes it’s personal, but most of the time, it’s not.
If you outright reject dogma, you often become a problem: a student who is always pestering the teacher. A kid who is always asking questions and never allowing you to cook dinner in peace. An employee who is always slowing things down by asking why.
When you can’t change your mind, though, you die. Sears was once thought indestructible before Wal-Mart took over. Sears failed to see the world change. Adapting to change is an incredibly hard thing to do when it comes into conflict with the very thing that caused so much success. As Upton Sinclair aptly pointed out, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Wal-Mart failed to see the world change and is now under assault from Amazon.
If we never learn to take something apart, test the assumptions, and reconstruct it, we end up trapped in what other people tell us — trapped in the way things have always been done. When the environment changes, we just continue as if things were the same.
First-principles reasoning cuts through dogma and removes the blinders. We can see the world as it is and see what is possible.
When it comes down to it, everything that is not a law of nature is just a shared belief. Money is a shared belief. So is a border. So are bitcoins. The list goes on.
Some of us are naturally skeptical of what we’re told. Maybe it doesn’t match up to our experiences. Maybe it’s something that used to be true but isn’t true anymore. And maybe we just think very differently about something.
This has never been more clear in my life than now, in the middle of this perceived pandemic. Leaning on the consensus of other's conclusions as those with expertise instead of allowing yourself to consider the evidence and draw your own conclusion. People are so wrapped up in their day to day distractions that they don't want to toil with complex ideas, even if it means their wellbeing.
The article I linked above is a great overview of this not-new idea of learning with first principles. When considering suspicious events that produce many conspiracy theories about what the truth really is, it would serve us all very well to improve our critical thinking. Don't let those who are so certain for or against an idea stop you from assessing the evidence yourself, no matter how seemingly complex.
Remember that all current human understanding is the result of ordinary humans just like yourself going through the mundane process of observation and reflection. No one is superior to you in this regard. Don't kneel to your peers who pretend to be your master.
Being open minded doesn't mean leaving your keys in the car; it means being willing to give someone a ride. Be the guardian of your mind, not the prisoner of other's.
TL:DR First principles is a tool that will help us be more informed and productive human beings.
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