metacognition
MindWatching
Metacognition for the intelligent human. As a teacher of critical and creative thinking I have always been enthusiastic about nurturing complex thinking capabilities.... Who am I to decide? California General Election is here and once again I’m asked to decide the fate of a few propositions which I believe I’m in no position to make decisions on.
For example, Prop 2 an 4 are asking for $10B of debt each to fund various important things. Who am I to decide whether that’s a good idea or not? I have barely a clue about the inflationary monetary system we live in and no idea where its limits are. What percentage of state budget does debt interest constitute? Is that too much or on par with the state economy?
Then there’s rent control, minimum wage increase, and a few other, highly debatable props, which I’d guess even the experts would be lost trying to predict the effects of.
Do I assume the government has done their due diligence and my vote is simply a measure of trust?
I feel overwhelmed by the lack of data, expert guidance, anything of real value to me, the voter. I’m only given a few cursory meaningless numbers and a bunch of emotional arguments in the official voter guide.
How do you decide on things like that? Do you do your own research? Do you look at endorsements? Do you use your intuition?
Oh, another thing I notice is that I generally tend to think about things in a much more metasystemic way than almost everyone I meet, so I try to remember that in my critiques. Sometimes I’m seeing stuff that the lawmakers or researchers or whatever hadn’t yet considered....