Is there an attack on critical thinking?

A student asks his teacher, if he still likes J.K. Rowling work despite her bigoted opinions.

The teacher asks questions. The student comes to his own conclusions.

The video gets hundreds of thousands of views.

A few months later the teacher gets fired without prior notice and with his laptop confiscated. Then he is offered money to keep him from speaking about what happened.

Doesn't it look like an attack on both critical thinking and free speech?

Before I move on, please, watch the video (less than 5 minutes) or read the transcript below.

Teacher: "So, these guys want to talk about JK Rowling? What's going on with that? What do you want to know?"

Student: "She's had a pretty controversial past. I just want to know what are your thoughts on it. Do you still like her work despite her bigoted opinions?"

Teacher: "Let's get specific though, let's define 'bigoted opinions'. What opinions are bigoted? We're going to treat this as a thought experiment. I'm not going to say what's right or wrong or what way to think. The whole point is to learn how to think not what to think. So, when you say 'bigoted opinions' you're starting with the conclusion that given her bigoted opinions. So, first let's start with, does she have bigoted opinions?"

Student: "She has had a history of being extremely transphobic I've heard".

Teacher: "You've heard… Can you give me an example?"

Student: "If you look at her Twitter, I think you could see a few things, if you want I could try and find something".

Teacher: "Let's see if you can find one."

A few moments later.

Student: "In one of these tweets, that she came out with in 2019, she said: "Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?"

Teacher: "So, you find that bigoted? What do you find about it?"

Student: "Is was deemed transphobic… I myself…"

Teacher: "Do you find that transphobic yourself?"

Student: "I don't really have an opinion on it, but I'm just going with what a lot of other people have said."

Teacher: "Let's pause it. Let's not go with what other people are saying. Let's try and learn how to critically think. Let's analyze the tweet ourselves. So that statement, do you see anything problematic, disregarding other people's opinions?"

Student: "She did try and pin some things on a specific group of people."

Teacher: "Where does she do that? Can you read that?"

Student: "But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real."

Teacher: "When I hear that I'm interpreting that as meaning, if a woman says that, you know, saying that there's a difference between men and female and then being attacked as transphobic, I think that's what she's saying by attacking someone for stating that sex is real."

Student: "That is exactly what she's saying."

Teacher: "Is that transphobic to you?"

Student: "To me, no. Stating that sex is real is not transphobic, it's just a fact of life, it exists."

Teacher: "Is there anything you disagree with in that tweet?"

Student: "In that tweet I can't really see anything that I myself disagree with, but I can see why some people would think: "Oh, this is offensive! We can't have that here!" or something."

Teacher: "Sure."

Student: "There's an apology tweet!"

Teacher: "Let's read that. What did she say there?”

Student: "I respect every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I'd march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it is hateful to say so."

Teacher: "Do you see anything problematic there?"

Student: "She's apologizing, so… No, not really. If I could read it again…"

Teacher: "It sounds like the same… a very similar statement. What she was just saying… She's basically saying like I have nothing - to me this is what I interpreted is - I have nothing against someone being trans, that's your life, but you just don't get to impose on my… You can live how you want, I can live how I want".

Student: "Yeah, exactly."

Teacher: "I guess now, that we're looking at it, like - "there's not much difference between me or her"- do you think it's fair that she's being attacked by a large group of people and people are calling her… Like you said at the beginning of this conversation you said: "Given the fact that JK Rowling is transphobic, how do you feel about Harry Potter?" Now retroactively looking at that statement, do you think that that was the best way to phrase?"

Student: "No, I feel like an idiot now!"

Teacher: "It's okay though. This is why we do this, to learn how to think".

Student: "In my class specifically there's been quite a few people who have been saying like: "Oh, she's transphobic! She's transphobic!" Until today I haven't really thought about it, because I just believed there's five people saying it, it must be correct."

Teacher: "That's interesting, that was great."

Isn't it a brilliant example of Socratic method and critical thinking in action?

As a father of three, I would love this kind of teachers lead this kind of conversations with my children during their time at school.

And as a Planetary Human visionary, I would like to see this teacher be cloned and sent around the Planet to question statements, spread critical thinking and teach kids not WHAT to think, but HOW to think.

Yet, the reality is, he has been fired and offered money to shut up.

These are the conversations, that Internet doesn't want you to see. Because everybody assumes that getting into debate is basically MMA. Asmongol TV

With his level of intelligence, Warren Smith, that's the teacher's name, probably, will find better ways to apply his talents. What concerns me is the school system that he and many other talented teachers are leaving behind to move forward in their lives and careers.

Who are we without our ability to think critically? Higher primates, monkeys with iPhones, nothing more. Speaking at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Will.i.am shared an observation that made me wonder:

The investments on AI to make machines smarter, there's no limit to the amount of money that's been pumped into it. The investment in HI to make humans smarter, human intelligence… That's just sad. It's sad that we're going to live in a world right around the corner, where machines will be more articulate, analytical, critical thinking, banter ability, contextual, deep understanding, while we have resorted to short tweets, emojis, memes and stickers to communicate. Will.i.am

Is there a conspiracy or an attack on critical thinking, I don't know. But for our species to thrive we need more critical thinking, not less!

If you don't mind Harry Potter, you can improve your reasoning skills in a fun way with a beautiful fanfic "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky, who also founded an online community dedicated to improving human reasoning called Less Wrong.

And if you really want to stay on Substack, check out an Oyuelo newsletter from my friend, colleague, and Possibilitarian Sofía Ortega.

Planetary yours,

Gleb Shu

P.S.Know a trustful resource on reasoning and critical thinking? Share it in the comments, I'll check it and add to the list!

Link shared by Osnat Lustig

The big idea: the simple trick that can sabotage your critical thinking