172. In the Age of AI, Think Critically, Write Creatively, Act Compassionately

Have you stopped to ask yourself: what is it that you want? And dared to listen to the answer.” - Beth Barany 

In the latest How To Write the Future podcast episode, “In the Age of AI, Think Critically, Write Creatively, Act Compassionately,” host Beth Barany encourages listeners to critically think about the tools they are using and to create a compassionate place to be curious about the systems they live within. She encourages listeners to learn from their mistakes: “feedback, not failure,” and asks, “Would you dare listen to the answer if you stopped to ask yourself what it is you wanted?”

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The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers and get curious about the future of humanity.

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Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.

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Transcript

172. In the Age of AI, Think Critically, Write Creatively, Act Compassionately 

BETH BARANY: What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is asking questions. Critical thinking is knowing that our realities actually filtered through our experience and our experience is given to us.

Also, what people tell us, our parents, the culture, et cetera, is a story. And every story has a structure, a model of reality.

Every model of reality has assumptions. Those assumptions underpin what is right, or I guess are the filter of what is right and what is considered right, and what is considered wrong, the right way to do things, the wrong way to do things. Every culture has a map of reality. You could call it a mental model.

So critical thinking means understanding that everything is filtered through a particular mental model, a model of reality that nine times out of 10 is inherited, meaning we're not choosing the cultural, mental model, the map of reality. We're actually born into it and it's handed to us by family and schooling and everything.

That came before us.

So part of critical thinking is learning how to identify what are the core principles that underpin the mental model that's been handed to you, to us, to each of us. 

[00:01:32] Analyzing Information and Asking Questions

BETH BARANY: Critical thinking is analyzing the information in front of us as you know it.

Where did it come from and who benefits from the way things are and why did things happen the way they happen?

Now? Sometimes when we ask why, we have to understand that behind every question, why? Why is it like this, et cetera. Is going to be a story.

And behind that story, the story is an interpretation of the facts and even trying to examine what the facts of the situation are colored by what we can see and what we can't see, what we can observe, and what we can't observe, which is in itself only available through our mental models. So critical thinking is about understanding all the parts of the puzzle and also understanding that our interpretation and even what we can notice through our senses is already an interpretation by our brains, which is colored by our experience and our experience colored by our culture.

But that doesn't mean we can't take it apart and put it back together and ask questions. So being a critical thinker is asking the question, where did this come from and why is this here? As much as the history as we can understand it, and knowing that history can be told from multiple perspectives, not just one perspective, and the whole basis of culture around what is right and what is wrong is entirely subjective.

What we call human history has been colored by all different kinds of cultures, and also understanding influences. Influences come from all quarters, not just people, but also the environment, how people have responded to the environment.

So the most important skill of the 21st century is critical thinking. Being able to analyze the information you've been given and understand how it's been colored from where it came from, who delivered it.

[00:03:39] The Role of AI in Critical Thinking

BETH BARANY: And specifically about ai. AI is built by human beings who fed huge amount of data information into these data sets and then programmed algorithms to interpret it.

And it's all based on predictive modeling. It's all based on what has gone before, designed mostly by white men. So they have their filters. So if you're going to use these AI tools, like chat, GPT, et cetera, you need to understand these were built by certain people with certain mental models of reality.

So use them with discernment. You know, is this right for you? Is this going to serve what you want? Understand that much of the data for the AI tools chat, GPT, you know what Open AI did and other big AI engines, large language models, is they mostly stole information without permission and they're going to exploit what came before as much as they can.

And if you're going to use those tools, understand what you're walking into. Ask the question, is this what I really want and what do I want? What do I really want?

I notice that a lot of people don't really pause and think about how they operate off of what they should do, which is also an interpretation. Maybe someone told them what they should do, or maybe they look around and see what other people are doing and do that. But have you stopped to ask yourself, what is it you want?

And have you dared to listen to the answer. So, critical thinking is also daring to think an independent thought, daring to really be honest with yourself about what it is you want. Critical thinking is also asking people what they want and listening to them and noticing that not everything is the same, nor should it be.

[00:05:40] The Importance of Creativity

BETH BARANY: And then there's another important skill, I believe, in today's world that is just as key as critical thinking, which is creativity, also called lateral thinking, lateral meaning side. So you could say that lateral thinking is sideways thinking.

Generally, creativity specifically is putting two things together that don't normally go together and coming up with something that, some interesting combination that no one has seen before.

So if you want to be a creative person, which I assume you do since you're listening to this podcast, then you wanna go out of your way to expose yourself to new experiences, even in your daily life. New ideas, new books. New music, new people, new places, new tastes, new smells. Perhaps a new walking route or commuting route to work.

Pay attention when you don't normally pay attention to that route. From here to there, talking to someone you don't normally talk to, going to a restaurant you've never been to picking up a kind of fruit at the grocery store you've never tried, or a vegetable. Listening to a foreign language you've never listened to before, listening to a kind of music you've never listened to, or a genre of movie or TV or book.

Creativity is about expanding your repertoire because it is so interesting what the brain does. Brain scientists have shown us now that the brain is a predictive machine. Faster than any computer and doing way more calculations and having more neuron connections than any machine out there in the world.

So the more input you give it, your brain, that's new and different than before, the more options you give yourself as a creative in terms of being able to think new thoughts and come up with new stories and new ways of being in the world. And we know that fiction helps people step into new ways of being in the world, into new people, and to having empathy and expanding your heart.

So critical thinking and lateral thinking. And a third component that I just touched on, which is compassion.

[00:08:00] Embracing Mistakes and Compassion

BETH BARANY: Because as we expand into what could be and what it is that we really want to do and create, we're gonna fumble, we're gonna make mistakes, which is beautiful because I think the critical factor in learning is also making mistakes as a learning opportunity.

In most places in the Western world where I am from in our school system, if you make a mistake, you're considered bad or wrong, and people are freaked out.

The reason why they're freaked out is because how can you succeed in a world if you make a mistake? Our survival has been based on getting it right, so our anger and fear about making mistakes is a survival based behavior. But what if we change things up? What if we nurtured making mistakes as feedback?

If we really included that in our school system, then there could be a lot more risk-taking and we could really accelerate the learning as human beings. Wouldn't that be cool if we can learn more quickly how to do the things we really wanna do? We could really accelerate some changes toward the direction well, that I would like.

For example, how can we have democracies that really serve all the people? Let's experiment there. I would say we're always experimenting. Even when we feel like we're messing up. We're always experimenting. How can we make sure things are equitable? How can we make sure economies are not exploitative?

These are the questions that we can explore in our fiction and paint pictures of how we could build to new realities. It doesn't mean it's easy, doesn't mean it's simple, and that's where story comes in, where we get to explore all those things.

[00:09:45] Conclusion and Final Thoughts

BETH BARANY: So I am gonna end today's episode here on my thoughts on critical thinking, lateral thinking, and including the fact that we can have compassion for making mistakes and learning from those mistakes, really reframing making mistakes as feedback, not failure. I think these are the three most important skills that we can practice.

As creatives and teach our young ones, and of course, foster in ourselves.

I started out this episode really just thinking about critical thinking and wanting to talk about that, and then I realized, oh, I really need to rope in lateral thinking or creative thinking. And then as I was talking, of course, I realized that we need to be able to take risks in a safe way. And so that includes creating a compassionate place so that you can be curious and learn from our mistakes and really reframe them as feedback, not failure.

Alright everyone, that's it for this week, write long and prosper.