What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies

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Zealot — We are no better than religious zealots, refusing any dissenting information. We hold on desperately to our beliefs and defend them viciously. No amount of facts or differing opinions will change our mind. We need to change the way we think. We live in a world unsuited to the methods and motivations of the primitive part of our minds, but too many people are letting that part of their brain control their beliefs and actions. This has resulted in extreme tribalism, particularly in US politics, which is delaying, stopping, or reversing any positive progress in society. Courage level 1: Stop saying stuff you don’t believe … Saying things you don’t believe because others want you to is disrespecting your Inner Self. And your Inner Self deserves better.”

The third rung is where problems start. Here your primitive mind has a much greater influence. Now you're "thinking like an attorney." You’ll argue or defend a point no matter how truthful or logical it is. You’re not just motivated to be right, you’re obligated. On this rung, you'll see people claiming that the earth is flat or the CIA is after them, with no amount of evidence changing their minds. From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait but Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times… The book provides an entirely new framework and language for thinking and talking about today’s complex world. Instead of focusing on the usual left-center-right horizontal political axis, which is all about what we think, the book introduces a vertical axis that explores how we think, as individuals and as groups. Listeners will find themselves on a delightful and fascinating journey that will ultimately change the way they see the world around them.”

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But there are clear observables that could be used as the basis for social norms re "high" vs "low" thinking. Conduct of debate! Unfortunately, in today’s world, there’s been a huge rise in people working from the bottom two rungs – what Tim Urban calls “low-rung thinking.”

The chapter on the Republican Party lays out the history of the party since the 1960's, and shows how it's become riddled with more and more low-rung thinking over time. The chapter ends by showing how Donald Trump and the current Republican Party look nothing like the principled conservatives of the past, and how they have allowed themselves to become defined by low-rung thinking.

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I also wish he would have written more about his solutions. While he's right that we need both awareness of our fallibility and courage to confront it, he gives very little actionable advice on how to become more aware or courageous. This chapter also has very few notes compared to the previous chapters. Which is puzzling, considering that many of the sources he used throughout the book have written about topics relevant to raising awareness and becoming more courageous. For example, Urban cites both Adam Grant and Peter Boghossian earlier in the book, but he doesn't bring up Grant's book about learning how to question your opinions and open people's minds (Think Again) or Boghossian's book on how to have productive conversations with people who disagree with you (How To Have Impossible Conversations). Finally, go public. Start saying “I disagree” if the opportunity presents itself – at work, at church, at dinner parties. You can go even bigger than that – start a blog, or write a book, saying what you truly believe. First, we need awareness, and this starts with humility. We’re all guilty of lower-rung thinking – seeking out information that confirms our beliefs, or holding onto our ideas like a blind zealot. We’re all biased and hypocritical – because we’re all human.