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Three Filters Needed to Think Through Problems
The literate filter
This is the first filter through which we should interpret reality.
Consider this question: "What do the words really mean?" Keep in mind the fact that Language is not just a way to communicate or interpret; language is a call to action or an inhibitor to action.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Externalities
An externality affects someone without them agreeing to it. It can be positive or negative. Most externalities are small but can make a significant impact over time. Understanding the types of externalities and the consequences they have can help us improve our decision making.
One family member leaves their dirty dishes in the sink. They get the benefit of using the plate. Someone else bears the cost of washing it later.
The First Law of Ecology
We can never do one thing. We should consider what the second-order consequences will be. When we interact with a system, we need to find out what the broader repercussions of our actions will be.
Negative Externalities
They can occur during the production or consumption of a service or goods. Calling something a negative externality can be a way of avoiding responsibility.
If a factory pollutes nearby water supplies, it causes harm without added costs to the factory. The costs to society are high and are not reflected in the price of whatever the factory produces. Even if pollution is taxed, the harmful effects still remain.
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Key Ideas
Questions about the meaning of life contain assumptions:
- “What’s the meaning of life?” Assumes that there’s a single meaning.
- “Does my life have meaning?” Assumes (or at least hints) at a “yes” or “no” answer.
Problems of meaning=problems of insufficient value
To find meaning in life, we can either:
- Add more value: identify activities that are valuable to us or we can remove activities that reduce value.
- Change our thinking: Perhaps our life already has sources of value, but we just aren’t looking at things in the right way.
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Key Ideas
Transgenerational thinking
With this kind of thinking, you can develop and grow the way you think about problems, your role in solving them and the consequences.
For parents, for example, this can mean asking themselves, right before resorting to an easy, short-term fix like giving to the kids the phone in order to enjoy a quiet dinner, this question: “Yes I can do that, but what is it teaching them?”
Futures thinking
Usually when we're imagining the future, we always include in our visions about dealing with problems like poverty, climate change or cancer some techno-utopia solution (with all sorts of new technologies). And there is nothing wrong with that, but we should stop seeing the future in just this one way.
Move from Future to Futures and open yourself up to considering all kinds of possible scenarios and all kinds of solutions.
Telos thinking
Telos comes from the Greek language, and it means “ultimate aim” or “ultimate purpose.” This call for the process of asking yourself one question: “To what end?”
As we try to solve a particular problem, we also should think about what will come after we solve it.