Last night I watch scenes of people across the world taking a knee. This morning I wake thinking about Darwin’s Golden Rule.
I don’t know where this connection of quite disparate ideas came from, beyond knowing that it is the way the unconscious mind works. In reality, we don’t know where our ideas come from. So, why on this Thursday did my mind connect taking a knee with Darwin?
Take a knee is a protest against the unfair treatment of Black Americans.
Darwin’s Goldman Rule is a process that involves giving special attention to ideas and facts that do not agree with your prior conceptions.
There seems to be a lot to protest about as around the world we experience social, economic, and environmental upheaval on a scale that challenges all of our thinking. It would be trite to dismiss this as just a reaction to the death of one person, or the ravages of one disease. These may be front of mind, and tragic as they are, they represent ongoing deeper and systemic challenges to our views of planet, people and profit. The underlying issues will not “one day disappear”.
My reaction to recent events has been an uncomfortable frustration, or perhaps despair, that we are not thinking widely enough about our current experience. Too much of what we are trying to do is to restore the past – or at least to reinforce our prior conceptions. It is probably a reaction to that frustration that my unconscious has connected taking a knee with Darwin’s way of thinking.
Charles Darwin made a habit of noting (he was a habitual notetaker) facts, thoughts, and observations that were opposed to his ideas/results. For him, this was a very conscious process and he recognised that it was easy not to notice contrary views. His great success as a scientist, and as a stunningly successful science communicator, lay in the ability to see, to analyse and to learn from criticisms and objections to his thinking.
As a trained scientist I have often reflected on this. Invariably I hold positions on a range of topics, but I know that work is required to maintain those positions. You must understand the opposite arguments, even to the extent of understanding the opposite side better than the people who hold those positions. You need to be able to deconstruct and then reconstruct your arguments in the light of contrary positions. And if your analysis and understanding do not stack up, then you need to shift your thinking and alter your position.
Unfortunately, the short-term response to many of our immediate problems (such as racism and COVID-19) is to seek views that confirm our perceptions; to surround ourselves with people who think in the same way and think the same things; to filter out anything that challenges us. That won’t lead to lasting solutions. Confirmational bias risks taking us deeper into the problem space and further away from the solution.
I woke this morning to the understanding that I need to think carefully about how I think. In everything I need to entertain the possibility that I could be wrong.