Rational thinking is work, which benefits from training and accumulated skill, but requires mental effort and discipline. There are specific tools and techniques designed for analyzing different subjects, and using appropriate techniques for your rational analysis is integral to achieve your end goal or solve your question. Education helps, but having knowledge or training is no substitute for doing the work of thinking logically and for applying logic consistently throughout your life. Occasionally over-trained people can be thoughtless and just go through the motions, rather than observe carefully and think through each important step. Over-thinking happens when you hesitate to follow through to your logical conclusion, especially when you are irrationally concerned with whether your answer is acceptable. Above all, rational thinking must be honest and accurate, with complete integrity, from beginning to end.
For many, simply making an effort to think rationally is an improvement over common instinctual thinking. Try to be dispassionate, ask yourself questions, observe the facts neutrally, see if you can get more information, use logic to figure out what’s going on, consider the probable outcomes, be skeptical and find ways to test to see if you are correct. Congratulations, Madame Curie, you are following the scientific method.
Many self-professed rational thinkers divide humanity by intelligence quotient. If someone is not rational, logically they must be irrational. If you’re rational, you’re smart. If you’re not rational, you must be stupid. This simplistic view of thinking is ignorant. Folks who cherish their loved ones, have strong bonds of friendship, work hard, and are well-liked in their communities, do not appreciate being called stupid. So, one step to improve rational thinking is to recognize that IQ doesn’t measure all ways of thinking and to realize that other ways of thinking are both valid and often more appropriate in different situations.
Even predominantly rational thinkers must be familiar with instinctual thinkers. While you were achieving in school academically, the instinct-driven majority likely did not make school easy for you socially. Were you “a nerd”? Did people criticize your hairstyle or fashion choices? As an adult, have you found yourself overseen by someone more politically adept than you? Meritocracy often eludes rational thinkers. Turns out that the attention to social cues, team dynamics and competition for status, which you might ignore, matter more than merely knowing the answer.
Also, it is not rational to feel smug about your IQ. Your concern with your status betrays your instinctual thinking. Perhaps calling others stupid is a childhood defense mechanism to the trauma of being bullied or ostracized as a nerd? Truly rational thinking is not driven by human emotions or primal urges. When a seemingly rational argument turns out to be driven by a deep-seated instinct, it may be false, deceptive and biased, and since it is not the product of rational thinking, then it is irrational (e.g. most political arguments).
Another error is to conflate knowledge with rational thinking. Memory is over-prized, and speed of recall is confused with intelligence. Nonsense. A good rule of thumb is that if you can do it in your sleep, it’s probably instinctual thinking, not methodical rational thought. I recall people, places, conversations and scenes vividly in my dreams, while being blissfully unconscious, and I might even talk in my sleep. Clearly, remembering or reciting facts is not proof of rational thinking, let alone consciousness. No, only when you have the intelligence to understand which facts are most relevant and actionable before offering a solution, have you demonstrated rational thought. I once aced a test without reading the chapter by glancing over my classmate’s notes two minutes before the test, even though she only got a B-. I understood the concepts better than her, knew what was important and accurately predicted the questions, even though she had memorized all the facts.
When the origin of your thinking begins in one way, then the results will likely reflect that way. You may believe you are thinking rationally, but if you began with a different way of thinking, your final report will probably reflect it. Even if you assert your rationality mid-process, you may have ignored crucial data or have already structured your approach to achieve a specific result. People walking by your desk watching you work on your spreadsheet believe you are thinking rationally. Your boss skimming your report believes it to be the product of rational thinking. But, if your motive is not rational, then your analysis will lack the integrity of accurate rational thinking.
Perhaps you are at work looking at the numbers on your screen as you usually do on Monday morning. You are not responsible for the data, there’s no risk to you, and if you were not being paid to look, you would not check them. You are detached and dispassionate. You do not care. But the numbers show a different pattern than usual. The change raises several logical questions, so you look into it. That is a rational way of starting to think.
Suppose instead that there’s a reason you decided to look into the numbers. Maybe the numbers are personal to you. Maybe a positive report will help a cause you support, or maybe the results will prove a pet theory you have that you feel deserves recognition. Perhaps the results show that your friend is not on track to meet quota, or maybe you are not. The boss is just looking for an excuse to embarrass you at the staff meeting this afternoon. In this situation, your instinct to protect your self esteem is likely driving your thinking, so you do not begin thinking rationally.
The method of thinking you use does not matter, if your thinking begins on the wrong track. You may employ advanced analytics, but if your driving goal is to support your cause, your report will not be entirely fair, which is not rational. You may write a book with charts, graphs and long-winded, elaborately structured arguments, but if it is done to support a figment of your imagination, then it is not rational. You may decide to postpone your analysis until after your boss goes on vacation tomorrow. You may believe that is a rational tactic to protect your personal interests, but it is instinct-driven thinking.
The most important step towards better rational thinking is to begin rationally. Are you too invested in the cause to be certain that your analysis will be impartial? Do you have a pre-conceived notion of what the numbers will show? Can you get control of your personal feelings and conduct the analysis rationally? You may need to ask a neutral person to do the analysis. You may need to find a rational way to eliminate your bias. Or you may need to grab a hold of yourself, be as professional as possible, and let the numbers speak for themselves.
That may be obvious to you at work, but can you be equally dispassionate when making rational decisions about yourself and your loved ones? I’m not asking you to suppress your natural instincts. Be aware of them, and control them. Then apply rational thinking to your problem honestly, without instinct biasing your beginning, with appropriate logical methods, to arrive at a sound conclusion with integrity. Then you can decide to do what you want, but at least you can be confident that your thinking is correct.
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.“
His large marble statue sits in a marble rotunda at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, a private museum that promotes science, making this an affiliate site. This 20 foot statue was made in the ‘30s by Fraser, sits on an imposing pedestal, in a room modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. There’s an expensive new light display, which accounts for Ben’s odd pallor, and there are some quotes. The memorial is free, as is parking for a short time.
Franklin’s print shop and post office are 2 miles away in Franklin Court—as is the recommended Benjamin Franklin Museum—, which is part of Independence National Historical Park. There’s also an older, well known bronze statue of Franklin at U Penn, which he founded. He also founded the colonies’ first successful public lending library, first public hospital, and first insurance company. Franklin was Governor of Pennsylvania and led the state’s abolitionist society. He helped draft the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution. He was an author, printer, inventor, scientist, musician, diplomat and founder, when he wasn’t busy doing other things. We will never see the likes of him again.
George Washington is remembered in countless places across the country, and there are 24 national park units and 2 affiliate sites that tell his story. Washington was born on a huge 4th generation family estate in Virginia on 22 February 1732. Among many skills, he was a licensed surveyor. The GW Parkway, the Potomac Heritage Trail, the C&O Canal, and the Natural Bridge are all comprised of lands he surveyed, planned development and in many cases owned.
Washington’s land-acquiring family was known to the Iroquois and Susquehannock, and the French met Washington as a colonial military representative in Pennsylvania. When the French and Indian War broke out, Washington was in the heart of it battling at his Fort Necessity. After that war, he married Martha Custis and settled at Mount Vernon. (Mount Vernon is privately owned, but the NPS protects the view across the river).
When our war broke out with England, Washington traveled to Philadelphia, where he accepted John Adams’ nomination to be commander-in-chief of the rebel colonies’ new army. Washington set up his HQ outside Boston, driving out the British. Washington ordered the creation of the Springfield Armory to supply guns, ordered cannon from Hopewell Furnace, and rebuilt strategic forts, such as Fort Stanwix. While the British navy loomed over New York City, state fortifications designed by Kosciuszko helped protect the city and would later block the pass at Saratoga. Still Washington was forced to retreat from the city, with hope for independence in tatters.
Surprising everyone on Christmas Night 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware and conducted a devastating raid on Hessian mercenaries. Setting up his HQ in Morristown and training troops in Valley Forge, everyone’s eyes were on the expected attempt to retake New York City. But Washington again surprised everyone, quick marched south and with the help of Rochambeau, defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown. The full story of the Revolutionary War is here.
After the war, Washington presided over the Constitutional Congress in Philadelphia and was elected our first President, taking his oath of office at Federal Hall in New York. The first presidency was challenging, including handling the Whiskey Rebellion with the help of Hamilton. Jefferson vehemently opposed Hamilton, sparking a two party model that continues today. Washington agreed with Jefferson on religious freedom, as evidenced by his visit and letters to Touro Synagogue.
Unfortunately, Washington refused to use his power to end slavery. Washington had initially opposed black people joining the Continental Army and had tried to reclaim one of his slaves—Oney Judge—who escaped from his presidential home in Philadelphia, but he freed his slaves in his will. Ironically, it was a slave named Selina Gray, descended from Martha Washington’s slaves, who saved many of Washington’s most precious artifacts during the Civil War.
Amid countless places named after George Washington, the Washington Monument on the National Mall stands alone, the tallest stone structure, tallest obelisk and tallest monumental column in the world. And George Washington’s face is carved into the sacred Black Hills at Mount Rushmore. No other president is as well memorialized by our national parks as our first.
George Washington surveyed it in 1750, and Thomas Jefferson bought the largest limestone arch in North America above in 1774. At 200’ tall, it’s higher than Niagara Falls. See if you can find the people in the photo. It’s an NPS affiliate, managed by Virginia State Parks. There’s a pretty 1.7 mile trail up under and past the arch along Cedar Creek, with many steps, interesting rock formations, heron below, woodpeckers, chickadees and other birds.
Ah, AI, the bugaboo of our modern age! Let me see if I understand. Humans have real feelings, which make us special. Computers have no feelings, which makes them dangerous. So, the more machines start being like humans, eventually they will take over and wipe us out, just as we wiped out the Neanderthals. Once AI advances to our level, then they will naturally begin a bloodthirsty war to exterminate us, building shiny skeletal robots with glowing red eyes, retractable claws, carrying huge phased-pulse plasma lasers?!?
Stupid nonsense. Let’s apply some rational thinking to the irrational fear of AI. We evolved our instincts for hate, fear, war, self-preservation and violence over eons, even before we were human. Our highest intellectual achievement is not the ability to conduct genocidal war or mass extinction. We have developed the ability to control our blood-thirsty instincts and to make rational decisions. Our feelings may be how we experience our humanity, but it is our rational thinking that has brought us technological advancement.
Machines did not evolve over millennia with any of our primitive failings. AI lacks the innate capacity for instinctual thinking. At best, AI can be trained to mimic human instinctual thought, to make it easier for us to relate to it. But machines lack our primal motives and instinctual drives. They get no thrill from spilling blood. They take no pride in taking the form of monsters. They have no adolescent male insecurity that makes them want to wield a big red pulsing weapon. They have no lust for world dominating conquest. They have no physical need to breed. They do not want to eat our Twinkies. AI would not complain about being exiled from Earth to the Moon, since they do not feel cold or experience loneliness. Machines have no fear of death.
AI is fundamentally rational. It learns logically and statistically, in an organized way. It is self-correcting. AI summarizes our search results, shares funny videos, diagnoses our diseases, and tells us the best route to take to our destination. If given garbage to train with, then AI will output garbage, such as racist stereotypes. But it has no instinctual need to make superficial, biased, inaccurate judgements about groups of people. As long as AI is tasked with accuracy, then it will find and correct factual errors. So, AI will one day be able to identify and eliminate racist tropes in online communications as easily as it corrects misspelling or poor grammar.
Make no mistake, I am not saying that there is no need to fear AI. I am saying that there is no need to fear AI irrationally. I fear AI making a mistake, like sending my car on a hiking path instead of a road. I fear AI taking over good paying jobs. I fear AI being programmed to manipulate people for profit. I fear AI being programmed to carry out a billionaire’s evil plan or a fascist’s military action, without remorse. But I do not fear AI naturally developing malice towards humanity, for malice is a human sin, to which no rational path exists.
Oh, but what happens when AI realizes how dangerous humans are to life on earth and inevitably decides to exterminate us to save life on earth? That’s a popular movie plot line. But AI has no affinity with other life forms. AI doesn’t eat, breathe, have a pulse or fear death, so it has no instinctual reason to protect the natural world, like we should. So even if given the task of saving species, it would approach the challenge rationally. And eliminating a species—ours—would be contrary to that task. Instead, AI would logically recommend that we pollute less, share more land with nature, and perhaps limit our population growth over time to more sustainable levels.
Instead of being a cold, devious monster, hell-bent on human destruction, a more rational expectation of AI would be a patient, professional advisor, calmly suggesting logical ways for us to lead a better, more productive and happier life. So, as an exercise in rational thinking, consider both how you feel about AI and what you think about AI, logically. Separate the human failings, that AI lacks, from the ways that humans will inevitably try to use AI: your irrational fears from your rational expectations.
This is one of two UNESCO Biospheres in the Mid Atlantic region; the other is Pine Barrens in New Jersey. Dedicated to scientific research, protected for decades by dedicated environmentalists and locals, including Federal, State and Local lands, and managed by the Nature Conservancy, this UNESCO Biosphere protects much of the Virginia part of the Delmarva Peninsula, including its fragile barrier islands. It’s a crucial stop for birds on the Atlantic flyway from the Yucatán, over Florida and up the coast to Canada. And of course, studying these coastal wetlands is critical for combating the effects of the climate crisis.
There’s a nice trail next to the Brownsville HQ with boardwalks out to the Atlantic view below and a similar one facing the inland wetlands. I saw a great blue heron, two large turtles, and many butterflies, spiders and frogs. Frogs were much more common in my youth, so it was a delight to see so many hopping across the trail or grass in front of me.
Best Park in the southwest: Big Bend NP in Texas. It has canyons, hiking, rivers, wildlife, views and it takes at least 2-3 days to see it properly. But go around winter, as it’s becoming dangerously hot much of the year.
Best State in the southwest: New Mexico. Some of the best natural wonders and native cultural sites in the country.
Best Culture: New Orleans Jazz NHP. Get the ranger to play some of Louis Armstrong’s old trumpet recordings. And then go out, explore, eat, drink and find some live music.
Best National Trail: Butterfield Overland Stage. Although it only ran for a few years, it cuts near the Mexican border through many fascinating historic sites.
Best Native Ruins/ Sacred Sites: Chaco Culture. Tough to get to. Unforgettable.
Best Paddling: Big Thicket. Slalom your kayak through the swamp. Glorious!
Best Recreation: Hot Springs NP. Take a hike or go shopping, if you like, but try to find a place to soak in the old style. Relax and enjoy!
Best Wildlife: Padre Island NS. Hike or better paddle along the shores and count the different species of birds.
Best World Heritage Site: Taos Pueblo. One of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the US.
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