Fact:
~Knowledge or information based on real occurrences.
~Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed.
Fantasy:
~The creative imagination; unrestrained fancy.
~A capricious or fantastic idea; a conceit.
Faith:
~Accepting a proposition or statement without evidence;
~Firm belief founded on perceiving the invisible rather reason.
Thinking leads to testing which leads to facts
~Thinking is a learned process that leads to facts
~We do not have to like facts; we do not even have to believe facts because we can test facts. If wrong they are proven false
~A fact is different from a truth; while truth is neither subjective nor personal; half truths and misinformation abound and show a disgraceful contempt for thinking and the facts of the matter.
~Some: who pollute the language argue you can have your own truth based on you own beliefs, even delusional or exploitative beliefs.
~But facts are based upon empirical evidence which is a prerequisite for sustained true predictions of factual outcomes
The Process of Thinking
~Speculate, observe, run experiments. If based upon race, gender, envy, anger, victim hood or any other narcissism of small differences, it will probably not support inquiry
~Be Skeptical, it is a virtue.
~Detect Bias, review evidence, find primary sources, ask questions.
~Be clear in your language, slang is fraught with vagueness and ambiguity and should be replaced with more formal speaking and writing.
~Anecdotal evidence is valid for speculation, however perceptions change, details get muddled and stories are contaminated by biases.
~Strive to be clear accurate, relevant, logical and fair. Consider all perspectives. That is critical thinking in one sentence.
~Learn to identify causal relationships verses correlations. This is what makes faith easy and science hard.
~Plan on being wrong, Plan on failure. Thinking you are always correct is a trap.
~Make thoughts visible, diagrams, text, videos; drop bad ideas fast, move on and collect good ones.
~*~
Why can’t somebody give us a list of things that everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of things that everybody says and nobody thinks?
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859), Chapter VI