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117 Comments
- dragonlink2, on 10/10/2007, -10/+39How about starting by not doing things just because someone tells/suggests you to do it? ie. reading this article
- b1tchkitty, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20Give me a break, this pretty insightful article.
- thailand1972, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15Reminds me a little of Monty Python's Life of Brian:-
Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, you don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!
The Crowd (in unison): Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
The Crowd (in unison): Yes, we ARE all different!
Man in Crowd: I'm not...
The Crowd: Shhh! - FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Nobody reads the articles. To read the article would be to go against the norm
- GraceHead, on 10/10/2007, -2/+15Digg needs more articles like this ...
- harrymcwealth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11I'll find my own way to develop independent thought damn it.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12hahah everyone on digg needs to religiously follow this. Maybe then we could start calling this place DIGG again instead of "a large collection of articles on how george bush sucks, apple rules, ron paul's amazing, and miscellaneous, mostly stupid fanboy articles on such topics as Wii, PS3, XB360, iPhone, etc."
- HCJfilms, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9This is a god damn paradox. How the hell can we all think independently if we're all following the SAME 5 STEPS in doing so?
It's a vicious cycle. - NerdyNinja, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I feel like the tips focused mainly around getting out of your comfort zone and constantly trying new things in order to expand your list of experiences. I would say that this only indirectly supports independent thinking, as doing this sort of thing is great for expanding your general knowledge, which in turn you can apply by analogy to other experiences.
I'd say the best way to develop independent thought is to vary the company you keep. Every person (well, some of them anyway) bring something different to the table intellectually, and everyone "knows" something you don't. Listen to as many others as possible who know more about a subject than you do, do some research on your own, and form your own opinion, factoring in what you know of the biases of others. Do that, and you're one step closer to being an original thinker. Do that, and more importantly look for the drawbacks of other people's thought processes, and you're another step in the right direction. - Davisourus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Thanks, I was just thinking: Independant thought? How do I do that?
- monkeyrun, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Best way to develop independent thought.
let the article tell you how to. - JaYBrooks, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8There are plenty of independent thinkers.. They are at the office in the front of the school... waiting to see the principle. I used to spend a lot of time up there... at least thats where they thought I was. Ah the memories.
- Error601, on 10/10/2007, -3/+11Independent thought comes from critical thinking. Don't just go with the popular, knee jerk version of things and learn how to spot how people misrepresent something to create a knee jerk reaction. A Micheal Moore film could be used as a class on how to spot misrepresentations.
- wholly2b, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Seems to me that there's a lot of pressure for people to think like everyone else. Sheeple don't like listening to independent thinkers.
It's not all roses, man. - thethorn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+91. Smoke marijuana.
- buyer687, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7FTA : "Independent thinking allows children try eating the shoes and wearing the bananas on their feet."
...and the second time they try to do this it's called 'mild retardation.' - worldinmyeyes, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9We've been lied to our whole lives. Take the red pill.
- mcmlxxii, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7"The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt." - Bertrand Russell 1950
- ominpotent123, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Wow. The unbelieveable irony of how this is exactly what they are talking about astounds me. Its not your viewpoint that I disagree with, but the fact it is less of a well thought-out, intelligent comment than a snide remark just hoping to get + diggs by agreeing with the by and large sentiment of the site, or the "conventional thinking". Your overwhelming shortsightedness, once again, astounds me.
- TheCaterpillar, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8The Digg guide to independent thought: Blame George Bush.
- wholly2b, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7ooooh, look at mr cool contrarian over here.
- smurf88, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Digg? Independent thought?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5hmm...how can you be taught to be an independent thinker? Isnt that against independent thought to begin with?
- CharlesDance, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I've heard this 'independent thought' is a load of *****.
- XMorbius, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Honestly, I think plenty of people have the idea to think independently. Look at the article itself: it describes how to do it, not the benefits of it. Which implies that the benefits are already known and encouraged. I believe we might actually be suffering somewhat from this. There is so much encouragement to be different and unique now, that even enjoying something "mainstream" for your own reasons results in ridicule. We need to encourage independent thought, for sure, but just as importantly we need to encourage acceptance. If someone likes something popular, why do we have to label them as a "sheep" so quickly? It would seem to me that true independent thinking won't always be counter-mainstream culture. It would be based on the individual, allowing for a broad range of opinions, likes, and dislikes ranging from the mainstream to the obscure. In that same vein, there could easily be independent thinkers who enjoy everything pop culture, and those who dislike anything known by more than 5 people. Yet with such a range, so many people prefer to call others "sheep" and say they're "going along with the herd". I'm guilty of doing it myself, in that last sentence even. My point is, while independent thought is a good thing and should be encouraged, we must also be willing to accept other people and what they think, even if we disagree. Not to allow closed mindedness to spread, but to keep ourselves from becoming closed minded from a different direction.
- wildfire, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I will not be dissuaded from my independent thought!
- growler1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4See also: Emerson, Ralph Waldo - "Self-Reliance"
http://www.youmeworks.com/self_reliance_translated.html - xGeneric, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7LOL! What a great article. First, does anyone else find the hilarity of someone else telling you how to think independently? And second, #1 in the article is hilarious. Yeah, turn off the TV, Computer, and all other access to the news/information. I have to hear about something first before I can even start to think about it. If you start shutting yourself off from sources of information, then that's gonna cut down on things to think about. A better suggestion would have been how to separate facts from opinion in stories, research the subject, and then decide on your own.
Buried for the waste of Digg space. Though if you enjoyed the article though, take a hint from #1 and get off Digg... we're ruining your independent thinking! - snowball69, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Good start but since when have Diggers ever bothered to RTA anyway?
- Error601, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Yea, you'll get so bored you'll want to think of something to do independent from reading Emerson.
- SmokedL, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Digg is one of the best sources around for getting a deluge of opinions that people from many different viewpoints feel passionately about.
If you read digg with the attitude described in the article it can be a veritable goldmine of information and ideas to enrich your mind. - Error601, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I think you're confusion chemically deluding yourself into believing you're thinking independently verse really thinking independently.
- cheesehead, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Watching CNN could be used for a class on how to spot misrepresentations.
- DJPhoenix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Not necessarily. Thinking independently does not mean completely disconnecting yourself from what everyone else is thinking.
- FearlessFreep, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2If you see my wife, tell her I said 'Hello'
- ProvoloneNinja, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I have mixed feelings about ambivalence.
- generalhooha, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Another good article on this: http://deoxy.org/rst.htm
- notque, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2How insightful. Few people see that clearly, and I wish I wasn't so surprised when I hear it.
- cylon99, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm not sure what I think about this.
- Ellipsys, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2For open ended problems, questions, and sources of information, this is all great. However, I've worked with a number of "free spirits" in the past who would insist on a convoluted, eccentric approach that, when analyzed, was inefficient and ineffective. If you're only being different for the sake of rebellion or to show people you're such an adroit thinker, you probably aren't as enlightening as you think you are. Think, learn, analyze, and try to come up with new solutions, but don't lose your head in the clouds.
- Frecklefoot, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3More like "5 ways to find out for yourself why things fail." Approaching a problem from a different perspective is fine, but ignoring what has done before is just stupid. You can discover 500 ways to do something wrong, or you could've just read about if first to find out WHY those attempts didn't work. We didn't get to where we are by all "thinking independently." We did it by building on the work of others. Sheesh.
- binorgog, on 08/07/2008, -0/+2Think Different, didn't somebody do this already
- generalhooha, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Maybe, but is that thinking for yourself? If a person needs drugs to do that there is something wrong.
- darkamster07, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1doubt everything, except the fact that you are doubting
- darkamster07, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1wanna go really hardcore:
don't accept anything except your own existance - cheesehead, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Death to the "politically correct."
- WileEPeyote, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Wow, partisan much? This is pretty much the anti-thesis of the article...
- codye, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Never let your independent thoughts get in the way of practicality.
- WileEPeyote, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Democracy doesn't work in what sense? It appears to be working in a large protion of the world, of course that could be said of any active government type. It all depends on what you mean by "work"...
- xtmno3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The argument my buddy brings up: Does competition breed right answers? If not, what would?
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