Why Do We Need a Powerful Memory To Think Critically?
“Without memory, there is no knowledge. Consequently, there can be no critical thinking, as it relies on prior knowledge, which in turn relies on memory.” (Craig B. Barkacs, psychologytoday.com )
Critical thinking is the ability to analyse and interpret information to solve problems. It’s a valuable skill for leaders who want to influence and persuade others.
We often describe pieces of information as dots, and we arrive at insights by connecting the dots through critical thinking.
For example, imagine there’re five black dots on a piece of paper. There’s a dot on the top and two pairs of dots, one below the other.
We can connect the dots in different ways to create models of a baseball stadium, a star, or a house. If we add one more dot, we can build the model of a circle, or the Star of David.
From where do we access the dots? It’s from our memory bank of acquired knowledge.
We need to remember the dots before we can connect them. The overabundance of information doesn’t necessarily help us retain what we learn.
We’ve outsourced the storage of information and knowledge to technology. This has helped us solve problems faster, but with a price.
We stopped using our memory muscles. The brain has a ‘use it or lose it policy.’ Neural pathways that are seldom used are either shut down or utilised for other purposes.
Focus and attention are important to building memories. Digital distraction and amnesia have scattered our attention and reduced our attention spans. We struggle to solidify the information into lasting knowledge and lose our ability to recall the dots.
Critical thinking is about asking the right questions, recalling and aligning the right knowledge to the right solutions. It depends on how we train and build strong memories of acquired knowledge.
It’s memory and recall that make the human brain a superpower. Mindless automation of knowledge acquisition will erode our intellectual abilities, like critical thinking.
Great scientists like Albert Einstein did not have digital technologies to help them. They engaged in deep learning, which filled their memory banks with solid knowledge. Their deep focus and attention helped them recall their knowledge, connect the dots, and achieve scientific breakthroughs.
Innovation and progress will slow down if we empty our memory banks and outsource intellectual inquiry to technological tools.
Thanks for reading!
