TechDigits

Tech news
Monday, Jun 05, 2023

After Covid, we must embrace critical thinking again

After Covid, we must embrace critical thinking again

Blind submission to authority has to stop, now that we are coming to the end of the pandemic
I’ll never forget the most valuable lesson I learned during my first year at university, taught to me by a literature professor who had fled the USSR: All totalitarian regimes throughout history have shared one key trait – they control all knowledge. This is essential to their success, because if you can’t control what information the public can access, then you can’t effectively control a population.

“If you ever give up your right to freedom of information,” he would frequently remind me, “all of your freedom will be gone. You’ve lost everything.” This stuck with me and, over the next four years, I was fortunate to have a few great professors who expanded on it by teaching me how to keep that freedom. To be free, you must first learn how to think.

Freedom must be fought-for and preserved in a variety of ways but, if you don’t first know how to think, you won’t even recognize when your freedom is being taken away in the first place. As my professor explained, “For a people to be free and remain free, each person must recognize that he or she is an individual capable of independent thought, and learn to think critically about all subjects.” Anything less than that leads to regurgitating memorized information that may or may not be true.

In free countries, people can access public information, share knowledge, exchange ideas, and openly debate. This is all crucial, since being able to pose contrary ideas that go against the mainstream narrative is the foundation for creativity, invention, and progress in every field, from philosophy to physics. Anywhere people are free to question the status quo and present new ideas without fear of persecution, societies tend to thrive. Without this freedom, there would be no personal computers, or start-up companies. We wouldn’t have advances in medicine or engineering. We would be nothing more than submissive human capital to a tyrannical state – much like North Korea, for example, where independent media is banned and citizens are subject to a one-party, one-man rule. It is a country in perpetual stagnation and darkness, quite literally.

In America, we have taken our freedom of information and freedom of speech for granted for a long time, but it has gradually been slipping away. And for this we have no one to blame but ourselves. For years we’ve been sleepwalking at an ever-quickening pace into what I can only describe as a dumbing down.

It started with relying on Google to answer our questions, and then we let Netflix ‘binge watching’ become our public pastime. Instead of the once favorite activity of people watching, our heads are bent to stare at a screen, as we mindlessly click between apps. We have become a nation of passive consumers – the perfect kind of public to manipulate with propaganda and mind control. So I guess it should have come as no surprise when those who seek power seized upon the opportunity to control the people when it presented itself.

The blind submission to authority during Covid was a major wake-up call for me – and I hope for many – that losing our right to question the mainstream narrative is a dangerous and slippery slope to the loss of all freedom. I watched in horror over the last two years as people who were once considered progressive who championed free speech and an open internet called for silencing, deplatforming and tighter top-down information control. They began chanting mantras and propaganda slogans that instructed us to “follow the science!” As if science was a Bible, rather than what science actually is, which is a continual search for knowledge.

There is no such thing as ‘the science’ and science is not meant to be followed, but studied. There are scientific conclusions we have reached, of course, like the existence of gravity, but no real scientist would ever advocate dismissing skepticism, even of the most widely accepted theories. In fact, if you can’t question something, poke at it, and look for alternatives, then it isn’t science. If you can’t question it without fear of being “cancelled” or blacklisted by your own government, then it quite obviously isn’t science; it is a branch of authoritarianism. This doesn’t necessarily mean that what becomes the consensus is wrong, but how we arrive there matters.

To put the Covid-19 mandates into perspective, there was a time when our very same government sprayed a poison on children called DDT and, at the time, you were the equivalent of a right-wing conspiracy theorist if you thought this was dangerous. It took questioning “the science” to end it. Similarly, we now know that lockdowns during the pandemic had little or no effect on mortality (according to a study from Johns Hopkins University), but caused a great deal of social, societal, and economic harm, especially for our youth. To end the lockdowns and finally to speak out against them, it took the efforts of those willing to go against the narrative. But they had to first know how to think about what was happening, not to sit back and passively accept what they were told.

I’ll never forget a Forbes article from 2020 that warned we must never “do our own research.” That should be left to the experts. You know, the people who know better than you. Now, please understand that I don’t mean to suggest that medical degrees and years of scientific research don’t matter, or that anyone can be a self-appointed doctor. But anyone absolutely has the right to conduct research, ask questions, and make decisions for themselves – especially about their own bodies. Your body is your private property, and the best way to keep it that way is by freeing your mind to question more.

In much of the Western world, we are still mostly free (although we need to fight harder to preserve it). We should use our freedom to continue to evolve as humans by thinking critically, asking questions of others and of ourselves, and engaging in civil debate. We should strive toward intellectual curiosity, not adherence to dogmas spouted out by self-appointed ‘experts.’ If we allow a few tech companies, CEOs of pharmaceutical companies and politicians (of any party) to think for us, or to decide who is or isn’t allowed to have a public opinion, or what type of information we are permitted to read, then my college professor was spot on: we’ve lost everything.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
Close
0:00
0:00
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
The G-7 aims to make global crypto regulations tougher
China and Brazil have signed a new deal that will allow them to trade in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary
Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’
U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
Fallen 'Crypto King' Who Owes Millions to Investors Was Kidnapped and Tortured
Regulators blame social media for SVB's rapid collapse: 'Complete game changer'
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
A brief banking situation report
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Being a Tiktoker might be expensive…
China's top tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, and JD.com, are developing their own versions of Open AI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT
This shocking picture, showing how terrible is the results of the earthquake in Turkey
The desk of King Carlos Alberto of Sardinia has many secret compartments
Charlie Munger, calls for a ban on cryptocurrencies in the US, following China's lead
First generation unopened iPhone set to fetch more than $50,000 at auction.
Almost 30% of professionals say they've tried ChatGPT at work
Interpol seeks woman who ran elaborate exam cheating scam in Singapore
What is ChatGPT?
Tesla reported record profits and record revenues for 2022
Microsoft is finalising plans to become the latest technology giant to reduce its workforce during a global economic slowdown
Tesla slashes prices globally by as much as 20 percent
After Failing To Pay Office Rent, Twitter May Sell User Names
FTX fraud investigators are digging deeper into Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle – and reportedly have ex-engineer Nishad Singh in their sights
TikTok CEO Plans to Meet European Union Regulators
U.S. Moves to Seize Robinhood Shares, Silvergate Accounts Tied to FTX
Coinbase to Pay $100 Million in Settlement With New York Regulator
×