Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking, by Steve Allen

Steve Allen was a noted comedian, whom I particularly enjoyed for his Meeting of the Minds series on PBS, decades ago. (They are, unfortunately, only available on VHS).

Anyway, he wrote a bok called Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking, with 101 Ways to Reason Better and Improve Your Mind. The book is still available at Amazon and I encourage you to purchase it.

It was published in 1998 and now, 12 years later, nothing has improved.

I've been sharing his 101 ways to reason better, and am up to Rule 22. (I share just a few sentences from each rule. For each one he writes a couple of explanatory pages.)

Rule 22: Know that reason need not be the enemy of emotion.

When some people hear reason being endorsed they assume that, if the amount of rationality in the world is increased, it must inevtably follow that certain increments of sensation and emotion will decrease. The supposition--or fearful concern--is groundless. Certain things will indeed be decreased if the domain of reason is enlarged, but they are such things as foolishness, fanaticism, brawling, fear, ignorance, bigotry, and racial, ethnic and religion prejudice.

The previous 21 rules:
1. Decide that in the future you will reason more effectively
2. Do some casual studying about the brain, the mind, the memory, the whole field of psychology
3. Beware of rushing to judgement
4. Beware of falling in lve with your first answer
5. Beware of the erroneous assumption
6. Beware of making predictions on the strength of insufficient evidence
7. Examine your superstitions
8. Recognize that you have personal prejudices
9. Bewaew of prefabricated answers
10. Beware of arguments by slogans or epigrams
11. Be aware that your opiniuons, assumptions, and beliefs are often affected by peer group pressure
12. Do not make an exclusive commitment to either optimism or pessimism.
13. Beware of giving children only factual answers
14. Beware of thinking that because you are bright and quick-minded, you therefore reason well.
15. Beware of reacting to labels rather than to specific individuals
16. Study the subject of sensory perception
17. Learn how to learn
18. Develop the old-fashioned virtue of humility
19. Concede ignorance when you are ignorant
20. Use words wisely
21. Understand that your perceptions, opinions, and beliefs are, to a remarkable degree, determined by your point of view.

Lost Art of Thinking #21: Undersstand your perceptions are determined by your point of view

Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking, Rule #21: Understand that your perceptions, opinions and beliefs are, to a remarkable degree, determined by your point of view.

Do not confuse "your point of view" with "your opinion." Your opinion is determined by your point of view.

We will automatically become better people, philosophically and morally, if we develop the ability to appreciate other points of view and the opinions to which they inevitably give rise.

Lost Art of Thinking #20: Use Words Wisely

Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking by Steve Allen, Rule #20: Use Words Wisely

We do most of our thinking with words, and most of our communicating with other people is done with words, too. So we should always try to use the right words to express our thoughts.

Be aware that the meaning of a word may actually change depending on who says it, when it is said, and where and how it is said.

(Today's slang perverts words, for example. Take the word "pimp." That used to be a derogatory word for a man who forced a woman to act as a prostitute. Now they've got a TV show called Pimp My Ride, in which "pimp" is supposed to be a positive term for rigging out one's car in a cool fashion. [Does my use of the word cool date me? :) ]

Kids who like something now say that it is "da bomb" or "sick." (Even if something is sick, they'll still say it's sick, meaning it in a positive way.)

Lost Art of Thinking #18: Develop humility

Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking Rule #18: Develop the old fashioned virtue of humility

The virtue of humility has important relevance in the context of any serious attempt to improve our intelligence. The reason for this is that many of the things upon which we most fervently insist involve only probabilities, not certainties. And, of course, regarding some of our opinions and opinions, we are simply mistaken. Therefore, we must be less opinionated, less dogmatic, more willing to "listen to reason" and the dictates of evidence.

Lost Art of Thinking #16: Study sensory perception

Lost Art of Thinking Rule #16: Study the subject of sensory perception

At first thought, the common enough acts of seeing, smelling, tasting, etc. may seem simple. Actually they are remarkably complex physical achievements. On the one hand, there is that great, theoretically infinite collection of physical objects "out there." On the other hand, there is our perception of this physical evidence. The evidence of our senses will sometimes be misleading. What we think we see, hear, smell, etc. can be affected , to a large extent, by our previous conditioning, social prejudices, fears, resentments, and so on.

Any good college-level psychology text can introduce you to the fascinating world of physical reality.

Lost Art of Thinking, #15: Beware of reacting to labels

Dumbth, The Lost Art of Thinking, by Steve Allen

Rule #15: Beware of reacting to labels rather than to specific individuals

Labels ("Conservative, Liberal, REpublican, Democrat" even when properly applied, may serve only to narrow our focus. They do not conclude our study, they merely help us to properly begin it.

Lost Art of Thinking #14: Just because you're smart doesn't mean you reason well

Steve Allen's Dumbth, Rule #14: Beware of thinking that because you are bright and quick-minded, you therefore reason well.

There is a wealth of evidence, both contemporary and historical, to show that literate and articulate individuals have cleverly-sometimes brilliantly-defended utterly preposterous assertions.

It is commonly assumed that an innately high intelligence, in and of itself, is a reliable protection against irrationality. Since this is not the case, it ought not to be believed,

Lost Art of Thinking #13: Beware of giving children only factual answers

Steve Allen's Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking -- Rule #13: Beware of giving children only factual answers

When children ask you a question, it is better to help them reason their way toward the answer rather than simply providing it. (Depending on the context of the question, of course.

(The same could be said for teens and adults, as well!)

Lost Art of Thinking #12: Don't commit to optimism or pessimism

Rule #12: Do not make an exclusive commitment to either optimism or pessimism

To adopt a consistently optimistic or pessimistic policy is unreasonable. The wisest course is to do what, fortunately, most of us do by nature, which is to consistently assess our prospects and, on the basis of available evidence, however haphazardly perceived, make a loose calculation of the chances of our predicament getting better or worse within a imited amount of time.

Lost Art of Thinking, Rule #10: Beware of Argument by slogans or epigrams

Rule #10: Beware of Argument by slogans or epigrams

[Slogans or epigrams] are often colorful and pithy, and make a perfectly valid point. But in the context of reasonable argumentation they should server as no more than attention getters.

(Allen then goes on to illustrate his point by examing the slogan, Better dead than red.)

"It is a waste of time to walk into the trap suggested by such a limited choice of alternatives. Instead one should consult the relevant contextual realities....the facts to be considered literally number in the hundreds. TO limit oneself to a consideration of only two of them - deadness and redness is to short-circuit, at the outset, any hope of thinking rationally about so perplexing an issue."

Lost Art of Thinking Rule #9: Beware of prefabricated answers

Rule #9: Beware of prefabricated answers

There is nothing wrong, per se, with "wise sayings." But their chief use seems to be to support decisions already arrived at.

Many wise sayings cancel each other out:

1. Look before you leap
He who hesitates is lost

2. You can't teach an old dog new tricks
It's never too late to learn

3. Out of sighht, out of mind
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

The Lost Art of Thinking #8: Recognize that you have personal prejudices

Rule #8: Recognize that you have personal prejudices

To speak plainly, to be guilty of prejudice is to act stupidly. The stupidity may, of course, take a variety of forms.

Reasoning itself is, in part, a painstaking and sometimes painful process of attempting to use the logical parts of the brain in a disinterested fashion, deliberately casting off-to the greatest possible extent-the restraints imposed by social conditioning.

The Lost Art of Thinking, Rule #7 Examine Your Superstitions

Examine Your Superstitions

There was a period, starting in the 18th century, when the newly enlightened European intellectuals assumed that increased opportunities for popular education would eventually do away with superstition. If such hopes were seriously entertained, they were obviously groundless.

The absurdity of specific superstitions is always apparent - even to the dim-witted - so long as the observer is not party to the superstition in question.

The only way to solve the problem, says Allen, is to "introduce your children to the methods of ssensible reasoning at an early age."

(The only problem with that is, if parents are supersitious and inculcate their children with such superstitions, they won't know what sensible reasoning is, let alone how to introduce it to their kids.)

Lost Art of Thinking, #17: Learn how to learn

Lost Art of Thinking, Rule #17: Learn how to learn

There are two main kinds of learning: learning from books, teachers, computers, and learning from experience.

Learning is by no means something we are supposed to do only from the ages of five to twenty-one, in buildings called schools. Rather, it is a lifelong process, the proper conduct of which is not only absolutely necessary for the physical survival of individuals but for the survival of entire societies.

Lost Art of Thinking #6: Beware of Predictions

From Steve Allen's Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind. (In the book, he goes into great detail and explanation about these rules. I just provide the bare minimum here. I urge everyone to acquire a copy of this book.)

Beware of Making Predictions Based on the Strength of Insufficient Evidence

For example, there was much outrage when it was learned that Michele Obama was traveling in Spain, and had rented 60 rooms at one of the most expensive hotels in the country.

But, it turns out that she is paying for the rooms (at least for those, her daughter, and the friends who came with her, friends whose names we don't yet know) out of her own pocket, not billing them to the country.

On the other hand, there is still the debate...with the US economy hurting, should be not be spreading a little green in the US instead of spending it in Spain?

The Lost Art of Thinking #5: Beware of the Erroneous Assumption

From Steve Allen's Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind. (In the book, he goes into great detail and explanation about these rules. I just provide the bare minimum here. I urge everyone to acquire a copy of this book.)

Beware of the Erroneous Assumption

It is important to understand the distinction between an erroneous assumption and a stupid mistake. Simply being wrong by no means neccesarily involves an affront to sound reason. People may rely upon poor authority.

Many an erroneous assumption involves good reasoning rather than bad. There is some protection in remembering that we are entitled to make almost any reasonable assumption, but should resist making conclusions until evidence requires that we do so.

The Lost Art of Thinking #4: Beware of falling in love with your first answer

From Steve Allen's Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind. (In the book, he goes into great detail and explanation about these rules. I just provide the bare minimum here. I urge everyone to acquire a copy of this book.)

Beware of falling in love with your first answer

All day long, and every day of our lives, we have to make guesses, assumptions, decisions, and conclusions. But it is not necessary to do so immediately in every situation. We do hsve the option of reserving judgement. It's better to exercise that option more often than not.

The Lost Art of Thinking #3: Beware of Rushing to Judgement

From Steve Allen's Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind. (In the book, he goes into great detail and explanation about these rules. I just provide the bare minimum here. I urge everyone to acquire a copy of this book.)

It is extremely unwise to rush to judgement about any issue characterized by even the slightest complexity. The danger, obviously, is that we will come down on the wrong side of the question and then defend our error, perhaps very vigorously or creatively, simply because we made a personal investment in it.

The Lost Art of Thinking, Rule #2: Read up on the field of psychology

(from Steve Allen's Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind) (In the book, he goes into great detail and explanation about these rules. I just provide the bare minimum here. I urge everyone to acquire a copy of this book.)

Do some casual studying about the brain, the mind, memory, the whole field of psychology

Engineers read about engineering, musicians read about music, athletse about sports, etc. Anyone who decides to become something of a thinker should read about thinking.

Just as most of us read our car manuals to find out how to treat our car so it lasts a long time, so we need to read a manual for the body, including one for the brain. Not necessarily one on psychology - just as there are a lot of religions so there are a lot of psychological systems - Jungian (which I prefer myself) Freudian, etc. [As dramatized in the sitcom Frasier. Niles was a Jungian, "so there'll be no blaming mother today."]

In addition, when you read up on psychology, don't try to psychoanalyze your friends, or think you can solve their problems. This is the cliche of the teenage girl, who reads a chapter of her high school psych book, thinks she knows it all, and goes around bossing everyone else, with no results.

The thing here is to know thyself, and how your own mind works, and what you can do to make it work better.

The Lost Art of Thinking, Rule #1

Steve Allen listed 101 "rules" to reason better and improve your mind in his book Dumbth. Here's #1.

Decide that in the future you will reason more effectively.

"Believe it or not, this simple step, by itself, will produce positive results, however modest. It alone obviously cannot achieve the desired effect, but it is a necessary beginning. The conscious act of will it requires narrows our concentration on the particular task.

("We must, in the end, settle for improvement rather than perfection.")