Thinking chunk

The next unit we studied in class was a thinking unit. We pulled out a quote that said "Our capacity to think, except in the service of what we are dangerously deluded in supposing is our self-interest, and in conformity with common sense, is pitifully limited". Looking at this quote at first i was very confused. I didnt understand what the quotye was trying to say. Then while we were talking in class, andy had asked "Is thinking something you have to practice and learn to get better in?" When i was asked this i thought thinking cant be practiced. I think that thinking is a natural thing that happens in your head no matter what. If you cant think then theres something wrong. I think that maby the misconception is based on what you think about. When I was just asked about thinking i thought that you can think about anything and your thinking, if your not thinking your not doing anyuthing. Then any asked us some question in which altered my perception a little bit.

The first questions andy asked were math questions. I dont remember theactual question but it was a division queestyion. He actually called on me to go answer it on the board. I ended up answering it and then he asked how do i know that? I didnt know what too say. I know it because i know it i had learned it. But isnt learning math, the same thing as practicing to think what to do when a certioan math equation is in front of you. Looking at the question of learning to think was changed after this. Then we had questioned the backround of all these learnings, especially math. How do we know we a learning math and learning the right thing. Its almost as if in school your teacher is allways right because she is older and your "teacher". She teaches things that were taught to her and it almost seems as if all these equations and rules came out of nowhere.

Another way we were tested was with riddles. Andy gave us a few riddles. The riddles consisted of us trying to think outside the box, and he also gave us an "ethical dilemna". One question i remember most was a train question. I dont remember the question fully but in the end i had to choose to let 10 people die, or change the direction of the train and kill 1 person. My answer was to kill the one person because the way i thought about it was that if i had to choose id rather see one person die than 10, because 1 would affect many less people than if 10 were to die. In the end though it still doesnt seem that good of an answer.

In conclusion i can look back at Liangs quote and now understand it. I think that he means that our thinking strength can be strong, but with our greed, and common sence sadly limits our thinking strength. This can be proven when i was talking about how we learn math, and other things that we dont even know are actually correct. If humans think off of other humans than we can only learn a bit of what there is to know in the world. It would be much better to learn for yourself in an ideal world, but i just dont know if thats possible in ours.