Loserthink - Scott Adams

Scott Adams, nowadays increasingly known for his politicial commentary instead of the creation of the Dilbert comics, attempts to show us how to think. Thus how to evaluate situations and how to effectively discuss your point of view.

The subtitle “How untrained brains are ruining america” gives us a context. It will lead through current topics such as Trump, Climate change, Racism, Gun control and other topics that dominate US political debate.

What then is loserthink?

Some examples.

Reading something into another persons statement which that person does not intend. Mind reading. Obvious examples are seeing subtle racism in some statements. Mind reading is loserthink. We can’t be the thought police.

You are what you do, not what you think

To grasp a complicated topic you need to look at multiple variables. Looking at only one variable is engaging in loserthink. The common example is wine consumption in France. French drink more wine and live longer. Thus drinking wine is healthy. Looking only at wine consumption is not enough. There are multiple variables involved.

The book also dives into debating.

According to Scott Adams you don’t get to completely change the mind of the other side. This would be almost impossible. Your goal should be to reduce the other person’s confidence in their rightness. The first step is to take their strongest argument off the table. That could be enough to let them question their other, weaker, arguments.

Another helpful technique is to build rapport. Meaning to get to some common ground on things the debaters agree upon.

Asking the following is helpful

State ONE thing you believe on this topic that you think I do NOT believe.

Example:

You believe a border wall will stop all drugs I don’t believe a border wall will stop all drugs. We are in complete agreement

Showing the other side that enganging in mind reading is probably not the way.