The Plague of Misidentification

Causality Part 5

In today's installment of TPOM, questions are the name of the game, and we are going to go deeper into their uses. 

In the last installment, we were able to glean the power of "why" and to better understand how to use the "why" question. Now, it is time for the power of the "what" question! Where can this question take us? Let's take a look at the ways we can ask the "what" question concerning a subject. 

• What is the subject?

• What is the subject about?

• What is the source of this subject?

• In what era did this subject arise?

• What data do we have about that era that is pertinent to our subject of inquiry?

• What first caused us to become aware of this subject?

• What is the location in which this subject was first discovered?

• What, if anything, is pertinent about this location?

• What was the causal stream that led to the discovery of this subject?

• If any, what of that causal stream is immediately pertinent to our inquiry?

• What is the source data of this subject?

• What is the secondary source data on this subject?

• What is the tertiary source data of this subject?

• What is the pertinent peripheral data regarding this subject?

• What of the pertinent peripheral data needs to be investigated past itself? Meaning once we have that data, where does it source from, and where does it lead? And is it pertinent to our discovery process?

• What do we need to know to accomplish our goals?

• What do we need to know to understand how to accomplish our goals?

• What do we need to get the process started in the best fashion?

• What is the reason we are studying this subject?

• What do we have to understand about where this subject is located?

• What about this would change if we were in a different era?

• What about this would change if we were in a different location?

• What would happen if we were in lower gravity, for example?

• What can the fundamental disciplines tell us about this subject?

• What can the fundamental disciplines tell us about all of the peripheral data or subjects that are in close proximity to this subject?

• What can quantum theory tell us about this subject?

• What can X field of mathematics tell us about this subject?

• What can quantum theory tell us about the peripheral subjects to our subject?

• What can X field of mathematics tell us about the peripheral subjects to this subject?

• What can time tell us about this subject?

• What can distance tell us about this subject?

• What can measurements of all types tell us about this subject?

• What are the constituent parts of the makeup of this subject?

• What are the macro outcroppings of this subject?

• What are the micro outcroppings of this subject?

• What filters should we apply to this subject to better probe it for deeper understanding?

• What, if any, are the errors in the source data about this subject?

• What, if any, are the facts in the source data about this subject?

• What, if any, are the proven truths present within the source data of this subject?

• What is the best way to probe this subject?

• What are the current experts that study this subject thinking in regard to its attributes?

• What, if anything, does this subject have to do with movement?

• What, if anything, does this subject have to do with stasis?

• What, if anything, will generate a morphological process for this subject, and why does it happen in the way it does?

• What is the connection of this subject, if any, to the field of electrical research?

• What can the chemical makeup of this subject, its constituent parts, or interactions with the proximal or distal environments and their constituent parts tell us about the subject?

• What is the subject’s living or non-living status?

• What does the above status alter, if anything, regarding our inquiry?

• What is the mass of this subject?

• What realm does this subject inhabit: thought space, physical space, or both?

• What is the awareness level of the subject regarding whether or not it is conscious, for example?

• What is the boundary condition state of this subject?

• What, if any, are the surface features of this subject?

• What, if any, are the magnetic properties of this subject?

• What type of surface does this subject possess?

• What is the function of this subject?

• What, if any, are the creative ways in which we can approach this subject's function to repurpose it to another function or series of functions?

• What, if any, are the analogs to this subject that may offer us a deeper look into the subject?

• What does this subject have to do with positive space?

• What does this subject have to do with negative space?

What About It?

What about this question is so powerful? I think it is that "what" questions help one to frame things well. Think about this: if you look up into the sky and you see a strange object that you can't immediately identify, what is the first thing you will ask? You will most likely ask, "What is that thing?" Now, reread that last sentence, and you will see the power of "what." When I wanted to indicate the first thing you would likely ask, which was me getting to the first thing via a first thing, I ended up using a "what" question, in this case, "What is the first thing you will ask?"

"What" questions are questions used to ask about things. They are probing by nature and bring about deeper levels of knowledge very quickly. When you ask the "what" questions, you are going to drive into the subject, as you can clearly see demonstrated in the above questions list. 

What If?

One of the most potent "what" questions is "what if?" This question has discovery percolating at its inception. You barely have to get it across your lips, and it blossoms into a speculative inquiry that immediately opens up the subject in ways that can be very meaningful. It was hard to avoid "what if" questions in the above questions list, but I wanted to so that "what if" could have its own section because what if it didn't? We could miss how incredibly powerful it is because there would have been no serious attention drawn to it, and if that had happened, we would have moved forward at a loss. What if we had? Where, then, would we be? What if you discovered its power much later? How many opportunities do you think you would have lost? What if you never met your best friend, wife, or both just because I didn't point out the power of the "what if" questions? Then you wouldn't have that lovely little daughter. What if you didn't have her? You would not have bought Crenwinkle the Bassett Hound, and you would have missed out on all of the fun times he has provided. Then there was that time that Crenwinkle went on that drive with you, and he yelped just in time to keep you both out of a life-ending collision with a semi-truck, good doggie! If you had not bought Crenwinkle, you would have likely been dead by now, so we can see that not only is the power of the "what if" exhibited by the above paragraph, but the exhibiting of the "what if" has saved your life. Not bad I would say, but then again, what if I am wrong about everything I just said? Worse or better yet, I will leave it up to you, but what if I just made all of that up, and so did you, which I did because some days a quarter is just a quarter, but then again, what if it is not today?

"What if" can bring you into the layers rapidly. It can offer you the opportunity to create, explore, freely associate, or drive into a subject with pinpoint clarity when asked intelligently. I think the main point to take away from the "what if" question is that when you ask it in a drill-down fashion, you can get some astounding results, and it can be a lot of fun while generating a sense of wonder along with the excitement of exploration. Use this one often in your daily life, and you will create a lot. It can lead to many new thoughts in the realms of creative writing as well as help one to envision and gain depth concerning all other forms of thought. Think of Einstein's thought experiment regarding the train; I bet that started with a "what if" that led to his thought experiment, though I admit it is only conjecture, but what if it is true? Would you get more from this writing if you thought world-famous intelligent people used the "what if" question like a superpower? If so, I can think of a few fallacies that are present in your thoughts, but hey, if it drives you to use the question, at least you have that going forward! The truth is "what if" doesn't need any pithy stories of famous people using it because you can plainly see how powerful it is right now through your own thinking and reasoning, and that is more than enough to move forward with confidence. 

The Other Question

We need to add another question to our six questions, and it is: 

• Which

I know it is not exactly revolutionary, but it can undoubtedly help us dig into our subject's depth: 

• Which of these options will lead to the desired outcome?

• Which is the least likely to negatively alter our data set?

• Which is the strongest of the options?

• Which can we use to drive deeper into our subject?

• Which of the states of matter best fit this subject?

• Which of the types of models is the most optimal to use in this case?

• Which error came first, and which links the deepest into the causal stream?

You Get Out of It What You Put Into It

One of the maxims that will undoubtedly bring forth the absolute best way to engage this material is "You get out of it what you put into it." All of this seems pretty simple when you are reading it, and the questions seem to be easy enough to process, but the real issues start when we have to apply this material to real-life situations. This causes us to brush up against those egoic needs to be seen in x or y ways, which, of course, generates faulty thinking and brings about a loss of depth in most cases. If that is all the case, then why do people still persist along this pathway of errant thinking? One reason is that it feels good to think you have it all together. Another reason is that illusory competency is a hard nut to crack even with the knowledge base with which to crack it because you have to know that you need to crack it before you have received the type of soul-crushing negative feedback that helps to generate the avoidant responses that you can fall into, thus generating a causal loop. This loop, in turn, is the process through which you blind yourself to the original problem and the continued outcroppings. This blindness prevents you from learning from the mistakes because you will not honestly self-reflect on what led you into the ditch in the first place. The above uses the grand "you."

In my teaching, I frequently watch as this material is thought by the students to be too simple, and thus, they pass over it as if they have already mastered it out of hand. These students of which I am writing have most certainly not mastered this material, and they are in deep need of humility and of practicing and searching out the depths of the possible usages that are present. It is with great frequency that they will bring me a problem that is causing them some form of discomfort, and I will ask them if they have used the thinking tools on the problem. They respond consistently with a "no" (points for honesty but zero points for humility). It is exceptionally regular for me to walk them through a rudimentary process of the application of thinking tools. Through that process, they will find the answers themselves with little more help from me than just starting with first things. This group of students will not let themselves start with the process and use it to find their answers. They are intelligent enough to excel. They are capable in every way, yet they choose the path of laziness all while failing continually. I have noticed that they never truly let those failures sink in. They enter the part of this process that makes the loop happen mentioned above. They lessen the impact of their failures, arrogance, and poor work ethic by reframing the truth of the situation into a convenient lie. One sleep cycle is usually enough to cement this into their narrative. They even recall the events from that narrative and not at all as they were, or as I have notated the events directly to them and as I remember them. They will often pin the errors, when acknowledged, on something unrelated, untrue, altruistic, and altogether alleviating of their responsibilities. 

The above is a cautionary tale with a little bit of psychological detail but nothing close to the depth to which we will take this matter in later installments. The point of the cautionary tale is to caution. We need not follow this model in our lives. There is so much potential within people that is going to waste and for no good reason. The materials within these first twenty essays are simple overall and essential to the further development of our tool kit for differentiating the real from the unreal. It will take time to get them worked into your thinking but make no mistake about it; once they are there, you will be sharper for the effort. 

Questions

1. Take one subject in which you are very interested and apply every tool that is in every essay up to this point to that subject. When you have done this, and if you want to share, you can reach out to me via the Phrontisterium chat, and I will take a look at all of your work and offer feedback. If you have not applied all of the tools, please don't expect a response to this question. If you do this, you will be amazed at the outcome, or you are someone who lives this out daily. 

2. Pick a subject, apply all of the materials from the last four essays to that subject, and let me know what you learn. 

3. Do you think any of the cautionary statements from this series so far apply to you? If so, in what ways do they apply? If not, answer why not while being careful to be specific. 

4. What have you learned from this essay?

5. What do you think you need to do to increase your ability to question at a deeper level?

6. What can you do to let yourself allow learning to be fun?

7. If you were to imagine that anything you set your mind to would be possible with a lot of effort and hard but smart work, would it alter how you study? Would it alter how you live your life?

8. Take these essays from the conceptual to the concrete at every opportunity imaginable, and please know that the opportunities to do so are continual in daily life! Find one situation a day, apply these methods and models to that situation, and then write about what you did and what you learned. The process should take around 15 to 30 minutes. After one week, check in and let all of us at the Phrontisterium know what you have learned, please.

I am grateful for your presence, continued interest, and applied effort. It is my hope that you are finding something that you need within these essays. 

We will continue. 

B.S.R.