{"ops":[{"insert":"In the 1980’s a number of important theoreticians, education leaders, and scholars, including Richard Paul and Robert Reich, warned us about the interwoven problems we were to face in the future given increasing interdependence, accelerating change, and intensifying complexity. We were also warned then about the importance of cultivating critical thinking across the populace if we were to survive into our future.\n\nThat future is here and now. The pandemic we are facing, the corona virus, exemplifies one of the many highly complex and difficult problems humans must now routinely deal with. We likely face further, perhaps significant spread of this virus, and it is clear that in many ways we are failing the test of critical thinking. People are disseminating and believing disinformation they read through social media. The mainstream media is as usual, sensationalizing. Hysteria is setting in as all manner of food, supplies and even alcohol fly off the store shelves.\n\nWhen we use the tools of critical thinking, we can more effectively deal with the problems we face, of course. But how do we apply them in complex cases such as this? How do we work through these cases, which requires reasoned judgment all along the way, and the consideration of many, sometimes conflicting variables and viewpoints.\n\nFirst, it behooves us to consider all the important questions in the question cluster we are dealing with. Our primary question, from which all other questions emerge is:\n\n"},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"How should we best deal with the Corona Virus now, to have the fewest number of cases overall in the longer run, and the lowest mortality rate from the virus?"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":" "},{"insert":"\nHere are some of the many questions we would need to answer to answer the broader question above, in categories (many more questions emanate from these questions):\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Biological/Scientific/Medical"},{"insert":"\n1.    What do the most reliable facts tell us about this virus and how dangerous it is, or is likely to be? (make sure the sources you rely on are authoritative)\n2.    How many people have died from the virus?\n3.    How many people do we know tested positive for the virus, but did not die?\n4.    How can we find the most up-to-date facts coming from disinterested scientists, researchers, scholars and medical professionals?\n5.    What is the best method of treatment for people with this virus?\n6.    Are some methods of treatment superior to other methods, according to, for example, age group, or medical background?\n7.    What best methods have been shown to lead to the highest containment and elimination results (with regard to the virus)?\n8.    What support does the medical community need to deal with this pandemic?\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Ethical"},{"insert":"\n1.    How are animals being used in testing for the virus? Is this use of animals justifiable given ethical codes of responsible treatment toward animals?\n2.    Are wealthy people affected differently from the poor, in terms of, for instance, how they are treated by the medical community when getting the virus?\n3.    Is the government giving the people hurt by this virus the support that a responsible and ethical government would provide?\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":" "},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Psychological"},{"insert":"\n1.    How likely are people to stay home and voluntarily isolate themselves through self –quarantine, and how will they deal with their overall mental well-being while doing so?\n2.    What types of people are able to better deal with the psychological hardships that come with a quarantine situation, than those who have greater difficulty dealing with hardships?\n3.    Why do people tend to panic in situations like this, and how can people keep from panicking?\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Sociological"},{"insert":"\n1.    What are the important social implications embedded in the cluster of problems we’re facing?\n2.    How will people effectively deal with their innate needs for social interaction and social connection while being self-quarantined or quarantined?\n3.    What positive social characteristics and implications emerge, if any, during a crisis such as the one we’re going through?\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Political"},{"insert":"\n1.    How is the political establishment dealing with the problem overall in terms of effectiveness in combatting the virus across the country?\n2.    To what degree are politicians acting in their own interests, rather than the interests of the public?\n3.    Are politicians hiding anything behind the words they say?\n4.    What political barriers do we face in dealing with this complex problem?\n5.    What role should the government play during a crisis such as this, in terms of responsibilities, to the people?\n6.    What economic responsibilities does the government have to the people at a time like this?\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Economic"},{"insert":"\n1.    How can we make sure that people who are sick with this virus are able to stay home without being penalized economically? (how can we do this over the long run for any illness employees have?)\n2.    How will people deal with the economic implications they face as result of this crisis (such as loss of a business, home, etc.)?\n3.    Will some people gain from this crisis, financially? If so, who?\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Legal"},{"insert":"\n1.    What legal barriers do we face in dealing with this complex problem?\n2.    What laws are getting in the way of combatting the spread of the virus? How can we cut through the red tape that stands in the way of dealing with the problem?\n\nYou will note, in reading through these questions, that many of them are general, and can be applied to other, complex problems. People typically don’t realize that thinking is driven by questions. The better your questions, the better your thinking will be, if you have the skills to think responsibly through the questions, once they are articulated.\n\nWhen dealing with difficult problems, worst case scenarios usually occur when thinking is allowed to run in all manner of directions, without focus on the most significant information, and the most likely scenarios. These problems are exacerbated when efforts are not coordinated and vest-interest rears its ugly head (as is per usual when politics hovers).\n\nHow many of these questions are we explicitly addressing now, and which are we ignoring? This is the question that likely determines how soon we escape from this most recent pandemic.\n\nWhat questions and domains of thought would you add to this list?\n\nIn terms of answering these questions, each of us must do so for ourselves, given the best information available – focusing on the questions relevant to us, including those we have some control over or influence within. Many of these questions must be answered by medical experts, some by politicians, others by psychologists, and so forth. It is up to professionals to develop the questions within their domains relevant to the main question, as well as to be aware of the other domain-specific questions in order to take into account their interrelationships. Only then will the best thinking, the highest level critical thinking, be done.\n\nHere are two reliable sources of information for understanding the virus:\n\nThe World Health Organization:\nwho.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019  \n\n\nCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"purple","link":"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html"},"insert":"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html"},{"insert":"\n\nWhat other sources of information can you add?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}]}