202304100856 Status: #idea #🧠 Tags: #epistemology #reasonoing #polaroisiation #thinking # The Thought Ladder [The Ladder](https://waitbutwhy.com/wop-ch-1-excerpt) is a concept from [Wait, But Why?](https://waitbutwhy.com/homepage)'s Tim Urban that tries to create a more nuanced picture of polarision, using American politics as an example. (See [[The Real Politicians of Washington DC]]) ## What You Think, AND How You Think ![[B51B508F-4049-4DDF-B783-11BDE0C5BF6F.png]] Imagine a 2x2 axis. - On the X axis, from left to right, you have progressive to conservative. [[Tim Urban]] calls this "The Idea Spectrum" - On the Y axis, from bottom to top, you have Primitive Mind through to Higher Mind. ![[Pasted image 20240212133518.png]] While the Y axis is pretty standard, it's the X axis that's important, because it helps to explain why people get so tribal (what Tim calls "Political Disney World.") ## The Ladder Imagine now a Y axis, from low to high mind. ![[9BC66775-5E11-40F3-9EB9-A09093225E5C.png]] The Primitive Mind is centred in the [[Limbic System]], and is designed to protect us from danger. This is where our most sacred beliefs are kept. Whenever one of these sorts of beliefs that that we hold to be sacrosanct are challenged, we defend them as if our lives depended on it. These are the beliefs that become the biggest parts of our identity, and often how we identify with our tribes around us (we've evolved to be social creatures.) The Higer Mind is the [[Pre-frontal Cortex]]; the part of the brain that's dedicated to logic and reason. When engaging the PFC, we identify less with the concept, and more with the larger goal of finding out the truth. The topic of discussion becomes [[Instrumental]], rather than the point itself. While some of us are better at being at the top than the bottom, we all will fall somewhere along this axis when discussing different important topics. When in the middle of the X axis, our two minds are struggling for dominance, and confusion ensues. To make this clearer, Tim decomposes the continuum into 4 categories: 1. High Mind: Scientist. Looking for truth, not particularly worried where it comes from. Takes nothing on authority ([[Nullius in Verba]]) and isn't attached to outcomes; sees debate as the way to get to the truth — see [[Fallibilism]] ("You're looking for whatever the hell it is you find!" — [[05 Love + Money/Richard Feynman]].) 2. Higher Mid Mind: Sports Fan. Has a clear side of the argument that they're invested in, but more interested in the longer-term integrity of the system they're discussing ([[Finite Games and Infinite Games]].) Wants to see their team win, but cares deeply about the sport. 3. Lower Mid Mind: Attorney. Has a side of the argument that they're looking to argue for at all costs. Aware that there is another side, but is incentivised to find ways to discredit opposing arguments, even if cynically. Looks at debate as [[Instrumental]] in achieving an outcome, which is beating the other side. 4. Primitive Mind: Zealot. Full limbic mode. Feels that discussing sacred topics is an existential threat, and therefore thinks the other side is evil. Totally survivalist. --- # References - https://waitbutwhy.com/homepage - https://waitbutwhy.com/wop-ch-1-excerpt - [[Klein-Why Were Polarized]]