Ask Lemmy

I might as well go first: Basic troubleshooting and reasoning.

I mean, we're not talking debugging assembly language here. But at least you should be able to reply correctly to the question "is it dead or faulty?" when it comes to a computer. And when a your car has a weird noise, at least try to locate it for an obvious cause such as something rolling around under your seat.

EDIT: And one important aspect of troubleshooting many people don't get is how to narrow down the problem. Let's say your wifi isn't working - have you checked on any other device whether it's working there? Someone else mentioned binary search which has a lot of overlap with this.

Making constructive, non-adhominem critique, and accepting such critique. Maybe calm debate/discussion in general.

Number 1 by far is knowing how to separate your opinions from your identity.

I've been thinking about this for years and I can't shake the thought that identity politics is the root of most major problems in western society (esp. US). It means people interpret criticism of their opinions as personal attacks instead. This overblown defensive reaction leads to turning around and conflating the opinions of others with their worth as human beings.

Yes, there some truth to that. If you hold hateful & bigoted opinions, I would say that makes you a shit person. But you're not necessarily condemned to that forever, because opinions can potentially change. This is tied in with Karl Popper's "Paradox of Tolerance", i.e. ideas should be tolerated unless they themselves are so intolerant as to undermine the wider marketplace of ideas.

When we equate (potentially temporary) opinions of others with immutable value, that's what leads to dehumanizing them and taking away their fundamental rights. And as has always been the case throughout history, the burden falls primarily on vulnerable groups (immigrants, ethnic or social minorities, children and the elderly, etc).

People need to understand that YOU ARE NOT YOUR OPINION. Others can and should criticize your opinions, but that doesn't mean they are attacking you personally. Defend the opinions, but don't turn around and go ad-hominem in response. And for fuck's sake, unless an opinion is so abhorrent or intolerant that it threatens someone else's existence (e.g. Nazis), you don't get to take away the holder's rights to citizenship, food, shelter, healthcare, etc.

EDIT: And yes I do consider this a skill that people have to learn. I think most should be capable by maybe... age 7.

Being aware of what’s around you. Whether driving and not looking before pulling out, blocking the middle of the supermarket aisle, stopping in the doorway, standing in the middle of the footpath playing with your phone; so many people are completely oblivious. The world doesn’t revolve around you, have some ordinary consideration and manners.

Swimming, it'll save your life

Basic sewing

Also empathy

Communication. So many issues could be resolved by just talking to the person clearly and calmly instead of assuming they can read your mind and getting upset when they don’t respond the way you played out in your mind.

De-escalation. Even if you’re right, there’s a time and place where you need to let it go and revisit it at a more appropriate moment.

Reading comprehension. Not a day goes by where i don't see someone respond to a comment that they clearly did not understand completely.

Cooking. I don't mean heating up prepared food. I mean taking raw produce, spices, herbs, and starches to make your own food. Doesn't need to be extravagant. Start with an omelette or maybe properly made scrambled eggs. Move on to other "easy" dishes like grilled cheese sandwiches and spaghetti. I am constantly amazed when I hear fully grown adults saying shit like, "I could never make anything like Beef Wellington." Yes you can, just try and fail a few times!

Using a fucking PC properly.

People have said “critical thinking”. I agree, but we can be more specific than that:

• Formal logic to think clearly
• Relational frame training to think fluidly
• Human cognitive bias awareness and mitigation strategies to avoid magical thinking or otherwise systematic cognitive errors
• Discourse Analysis to be critical of any message https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LKiaYBVAEUk&pp=
• Mindfulness and acceptance skills to engage with what our thoughts and body tell us, regardless of whether it’s painful or difficult
• Visible Thinking Routines to make thinking and communication with others easier
• Research design (Joseph A. Maxwell) and system design (How to Design Programs) to seek information critically and how to systematically tackle challenges

Binary search, there are so many instances where problems in life can be solved by eliminating half of a given set repeatedly.

Blender broken? There are only so many things that can go wrong, analyze the situation and try to find something that cuts your problem in half.

1. Is the light on? It’s not electricity and that's a huge chunk of what makes a blender work.
2. Light not on? Well now you've eliminated (temporarily) mechanical systems and electrical remains. Further splitting that part of the blender means either house power or internal blender power, check the outlet with another machine

This approach involves further splitting the problem into 2 as evenly as possible each time. It doesn’t make sense to whip out the multimeter if the on light isn't shining, you don't need to check on your house's breakers if the light is on, etc.

This system works for troubleshooting almost anything, all you have to do is find chokepoints and identify sections of your target. Toilet not flushing, faucet not on, car not starting, neck pain, allergies, it's almost harder to think of something it doesn't apply to.

The ability to process information. It seems like the reason need AI to summarize different things is because they never learned how to do it themselves.

Basic cooking skills

Reading comprehension

Listening to someone speak without interrupting

Remembering to let other people speak when having a conversation

Proof reading what they post.

Looking at you OP :P

Listening (to one another).

Reading instructions would be another one that gets skipped due to stress or whatever the excuse is.

Or taking the time to properly read and reply to an email. I've learnt the hard way to never have more than one question per email, it's only the first or the last question that gets answered.

Critical thinking: We would be in a better world if more people were capable of it.

media literacy

Reading a map.

GPS is great & all, but I know people that if you put a paper map in front of them they're still lost because they can't correlate the map with reality.

Having a basic idea of how a car/engine works. Most people waste so much money on basic repairs they could just do themselves. Feels like majority of folks couldn't even put on their spare tire. Plus, mechanic is job that less and less people are willing to do over time so the cost of their labour will only keep getting worse

Integrity.

Basic math. I don't talk about solving differential equation. But if you don't want to get scammed you need to understand what's a 10% discount, how do interest work, price per kg, or price per m^2

Driving. Most people know how to operate a vehicle, but a lot don’t know how to actually drive properly.

Patience.

I've taken up several hobbies (game dev, gardening, woodworking, etc) where results aren't always well seen until weeks, months or even years after starting a project.

Everyone seems too interested in getting results fast and now, and the world seems all too keen to sell you something to try and make that happen.