The Reality Check Episode 42

Critical Thinking 101 + Psychic Dogs + Myopic Myth

Critical Thinking

 Part 1:

What is critical thinking? (Not the kinds you see in newspapers, but what it actually is)

There is this bill 44 in Canada that allows parents to pull kids out of class if it's about sex or evolution, and the newspapers always say that this is good for critical thinking, and no, that is better for critical thinking. So, many people miss out what critical thinking actually is.

So, what is it? 

Critical thinking is a method or set of tools for assessing the trustworthiness of claims or arguments, it's a formal way for us to reason. 

We reason over things everyday without really thinking about it; critical thinking helps us actually think about what we are deciding and use proper logic in order to determine what is actually the best course. 

A lot of the time, we use critical thinking during arguments that are worth arguing. If someone is just ranting on something that's not worth talking about, it's not worth arguing. All arguments are made up of a few key parts: premises, logic, and a conclusion. If you miss out one of those things, then it's not an argument. 

What is a premise? The premise is the foundation of argument. These are the things that should be supported by evidence.

The conclusion is difficult to make out sometimes, but you have to make your conclusion clear. It's the fundamental assertion. So, try to listen and see what the person is trying to convince you of.

What connects the premise and the conclusion is logic. Sometimes when either the premise of conclusion is true, but the other is false, then it's not a trustworthy argument. 

Another thing is that critical thinking can actually help someone else's argument better. When you are truly interesting in the subject and the topic a person is arguing about, even if the argument is poor, you can actually use critical thinking to make it better. 

Part 2:

Dogs are psychic?

Are dogs psychic? many people think they are, and many people think they are not. 

Many pet owners find their cats or dogs waiting for them at the door when they get home. So, do they wait all day? Or did they hear the owners coming? Or are they psychic? 

There is a book called: Dogs know when their owners are coming home and other unexplained powers of animals. The author is Rupert Sheldrake. 

Basically, how this experiment went was, he set up a webcam, and you observe the pet all day. Then, when the owner comes home, we check the time when the pet detects the owner. How much time they spend at the waiting spot and other things like that. 

There are many problems in the experiments of course, because the pets do have a biological clock and they know when their owners come back, so they start waiting. But, after when the owners comes home at unexpected times, the pets won't be able to detect it earlier. 

There are many other problems such as when the owner leaves for a short time, then the owner won't bother filling his water and feeding the pet a bit. So, the dog can use these kind of things to predict when the owner comes home. There are many other problems that effect the experiments. 

Science Myth of the Week:

Are people who wear glasses nerds? 

No, it's just a stereotype we see in movies. They have no relation whatsoever.