Critical Thinking 101

In college I took a Philosophy 101 class, mostly just to fulfill the credit requirements. Ironically, this ended up being one of the most insightful and important classes I ever took, as about half the class was an emphasis on critical thinking, specifically in the context of "how to evaluate a claim." This class has paid dividends for me, helping me navigate nearly every aspect of life ever since - especially the privacy space, which is rife with circumstantial "evidence" and sensationalist YouTubers looking to get clicks by riling up their audiences with wild speculation and confirmation bias.

The information I learned in that class has only become increasingly valuable and vital in the years since, as fake/heavily biased news and AI deepfakes proliferate more every day. I feel like this is something that should be taught as a mandatory part of high school curricula, but unfortunately it's not and probably won't be any time soon. So in the meantime I want to share what I learned in the hopes it will help you, too.