This is the 31st post in this substack. The first 20 constitute a manual on what it means to be a Thinker, with a capital T, as opposed to merely being someone who thinks a lot. I also describe the steps one could take to become a Thinker.
I then shifted to what might be called applied thinking, in which I described ways in which we can think more and better about a variety of topics. I wrote, for example, a post in response to the Kirk assassination. Rather than taking sides in the subsequent debate about whether the political left or right should be held responsible for the murder, I drew readers’ attention to a deeper issue, namely the ready availability of lethal weapons in the US. I also wrote a post on getting vaccinated, but again, I didn’t take sides. My goal was instead to clarify the disputed points and describe the kind of research you would have to do to form a reasoned opinion.
Since making that transition, the number of subscribers to my substack has swelled, which is evid…