Black and white thinking

[Chives99]

Would you say black and white thinking is trying to pin something down and say it can only be this way? That would be mean reality always an open question and it can never be case closed for anything, maybe science will never figure everything out and its always going to be an endless pursuit. That doesnt mean science is useless just that it will never get a theory of everything.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Sincerity
Removed typo in title

[DefinitelyNotARobot]

Black and white thinking can be viewed as a tool for survival that allows you to take complex problems and break them down into simple issues of "good vs evil" or "us vs them", making them much more manageable than if you actually sat down and really thought them through, which obviously can't be done because there is always going to be an infinite amount of unknown variables for any given situation.

What I wonder is whether all thinking is ultimately black and white, at least relative to the complexity of reality. Can you actually think "deep" and "complex" thoughts, or is that just another thought, based on our lack of understanding of just how simplistic our thoughts really are, relative to the broader whole of reality?

[Chives99]

Black and white thinking causes people to act too emotionally in a situation and could all too easily  make someone make the wrong decision as they cling on to their strong positions and react emotionally when the situation wasnt dire they just made a mountain out of a mole hill,always being open to something not being the case allows you to evaluate each situation with a calm , non reactive and adaptable mind. The map is not the territory

[Basman]

Black and white thinking is more simplistic, which is why people do it and why it spreads more easily.

The human brain is the most energy demanding organ of the body. We are instinctually driven to preserve energy and conciously thinking about things is simply less energy efficient, which is why consciously thinking and contemplating things is relatively uncommon.

You can deduce a lot from different situations and people if you just kind of pay attention and try to connect your observations in a meticilous fashion. It doesn't require the intellect of a geniues, just that you try. Most people rarely really "think" about stuff or ask a lot of questions. Atleast consciously in a deliberate way.