Modern civilization offers unprecedented access to information, yet the majority of society operates at the lowest levels of thinking. Using Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy as a metaphor for the modern mind, the transcript argues that culture has flattened into a plane of regurgitation, where people confuse memory with intelligence and awareness with comprehension. True thinking has been replaced by the passive consumption of pre-digested opinions, leaving society fractured and incapable of nuance.

The Hierarchy of Thought

Bloom’s framework describes a pyramid of cognition. At the bottom lie Remembering and Understanding—simply repeating information or explaining it in one’s own words. This is where most public discourse, social media, and political debate reside. Higher levels include Analysis (breaking ideas down to see structure), Evaluation (judging priorities and values), and the summit, Creation (synthesizing knowledge to produce something genuinely new). Above the pyramid lies Metacognition, the ability to observe one’s own thinking process to identify biases and emotional triggers.

The Barriers to Deep Thinking

The stagnation at the bottom is driven by three main forces:

• Evolutionary Biology: The brain is a “cognitive miser” designed to save energy. Deep thinking is metabolically expensive and often uncomfortable, leading people to mistake the sensation of mental friction for failure or lack of intelligence.
• Technology: Digital platforms profit from low-level cognition. Algorithms reward instant reactions, outrage, and tribal signaling, effectively outsourcing mental labor to the cloud and eroding attention spans.
• Identity: Beliefs often morph into tribal markers. When an idea becomes part of one’s identity, critical analysis stops, and the goal shifts from seeking truth to maintaining social loyalty.

How to Ascend the Pyramid

Moving from a consumer of thoughts to a creator of them requires intentional practice. The path involves slowing down to reclaim attention, building “intellectual stamina” by embracing the discomfort of complex ideas, and learning to hold contradictory truths simultaneously. To reach the top, one must practice intellectual humility—admitting ignorance—and view thinking not as a means to win arguments, but as a way to reclaim agency over one’s own mind.

Mentoring question

Reflecting on your recent media consumption, did you encounter any ideas that caused you genuine ‘cognitive soreness,’ and did you push through that discomfort to analyze the concept, or did you scroll past it to find something more confirming?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HraPf_MCcps&is=JAGRnt9axz_SzwAB