All Lessons

First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge

First-principles thinking is one of the best ways to reverse-engineer complicated problems and unleash creative possibility.

Sometimes called “reasoning from first principles,” the idea is to break down complicated problems into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up. It’s one of the best ways to learn to think for yourself, unlock your creative potential, and move from linear to non-linear results.

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History of the Scientific Method

History of the Scientific Method   The Dark Ages, (500 to 1100) were characterized by a general erosion of civilization. Knowledge from the ancient Romans survived in only a few monasteries, cathedrals, and palace schools.  While knowledge from ancient Greece...

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Critical Thinking

Being Critical, Not Thinking Critically Too often in practice, people equate critical thinking with merely being skeptical of whatever they hear. Or they will interpret it to mean that, when confronted with someone who says something that they disagree with,...

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How to Encourage Responsible and Meaningful Engagement in Public Discourse

I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of -CLARENCE D ARROW To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know. That is true knowledge. -HENRY DAVID THOREAU We have met the enemy and he is us. -WALT KELLY'S "PoGo"...

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The Difficulty to Building Consensus is on clear display with Religion on Wikipedia. But there are solutions. Like Separating Facts and Conclusions, and transparency to the source.

A interesting post from the Religion New Service (RNS) about the "Edit Wars" on the Religious Pages of Wikipedia clearly demonstrate the difficulty to Building Consensus.  But, there is a solution.  Clearly identify what are facts and what are conclusions.  Then...

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