critical thinking is an old paradigm that most of humanity is unwilling to interact with

Critical thinking is a mechanism for digesting large amounts of information over time, in order to make informed policy decisions.

If you don't have useful information, you don't have spare time, and you don't have any actual input into policy, it lacks value.

I see folks consistently trying to make this an individualist problem. "I figured it out because I think critical! You didn't because you're a dumb-dumb!"

But more often than not, it's two people talking past each other, working off different bodies of data (of debatable quality) that they've incompletely digested. And then all they know how to do with their conclusions is yell "You're an idiot!" at people who disagree.

How do you reach large numbers of people to form a consensus? How do you collaborate with them towards a tangible benefit?

Curiously enough, Facebook used to provide a mechanism for this purpose. And the fact that it doesn't anymore - that it is largely a trap for weak, confused, vulnerable people to scream at one another while they get scammed - speaks more to the profit engine of the service than the core competency of any of its members

I actually don’t mind this concept of a „town square“, but I think that it doesn’t work with so many people all just shouting into the void. The best form of social media seems to be this Reddit/lemmy forum style with categoriesed conversations in sub spaces