Welcome to Mindvax!
The primary mission of Mindvax on Locals is to be a community where you, a student, can partake in real, open discussions without having to deal with political correctness and intolerant people. Your ideas and opinions are important to share, and there are other students who want to hear what you have to say and to engage in meaningful conversation. This includes students who have opinions and beliefs which are different than yours.
Mindvax is a place where you are free to question and figure out what you really think about something. And, yes, if someone presents a convincing argument, members are free to change their minds without judgement. Members are also free to hold on even stronger to their original position.
The goal of the community is to show you how to think critically about any issue and how to protect yourself from illogical ideas and misinformation. In the end, what you think and believe are up to you. Mindvax helps you develop critically structured arguments, while discarding ideas and information that do not make sense.
Ask questions and say things without be judged, but, if your statements are not sound, then also be prepared to be intellectually challenged. The one requirement is you are civil in discussion, listen and reply respectfully and present your point-of-view using critical thinking principles.
The second mission of the Mindvax community is to be a place where you receive assistance with schoolwork assignments. Specifically, Mindvax is about applying a critical thinking system to any school assignment you have.
If you have an assignment and are not quite sure how to start, develop, or complete it, simply ask the community for its ideas. The purpose here is not to give you answers or to do your work for you. It is to help you better assess and figure out what you think. Do not be surprised if someone who thinks different than you is the one who assists you the most in better understanding your own opinions and beliefs.
With the Mindvax critical thinking community, assistance in improving your school assignments is but a few keystrokes away. Never again be stuck doing an assignment, as there is a Mindvax member who will help "think" you out of being stuck.
Your paid subscription includes a copy of Mindvax Critical Thinking & Essay Writing eBook (PDF-version). To receive your copy, send an email stating your Mindvax community username to [email protected]. Please allow up to 48 hours for delivery.
Feel free at any time to jump into a conversation, to start a conversation, or to ask a question about a school assignment!
Again, welcome to the Mindvax community. We are thrilled that you are here.
Lesson Directory - https://bit.ly/2QqYrz8
This 30-second video by one of the world's top scientists, Dr. Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996), explains why there is no such thing as "Follow the Science" or "The Science."
Additionally, as stated in one of our lessons on the scientific process (https://bit.ly/3s2KBAW):
"Science is misunderstood because the term is so misused. Let's start with the fact that science is not a thing. It is a process. Science is a specific methodology for asking how and why things function and then developing experiments to test if the predictions (called hypotheses) are correct.
More importantly, science does not give results; experiments do. Therefore, poorly designed experiments produce flawed data. Flawed data are not the fault of science; they are the fault of badly designed experiments. One can only follow the data/results of experiments. Hence, there is no such thing as "following the science."
Each subscriber post is a lesson on a specific skill in critical thinking. In 15 minutes, students learn how to put it immediately into practice.
With Mindvax, students develop a reliable critical thinking system that they instinctively use everyday. It teaches how to analyze information for integrity and accuracy, thereby reducing the influence of misinformation.
Mindvax lessons are written in easy-to-read story form using common real-life scenarios. Students can visualize themselves in the narratives and learn critical thinking application from normal life experiences.
There are 7 sections in most lessons:
Overview
Description of the Skill
Examples
Analysis of Examples using Critical Thinking
Conclusions after Critical Thinking
Specific Recommendations on how to put Lesson into Immediate Practice
Preview of the next Lesson
There are three specialty lesson series that show how to specifically use critical thinking in areas outside of school:
Not Falling For That - Teaches how to identify ...
There are two behaviors that humans instinctively do. We dutifully reject erroneous details about what we read/see when it is a topic we know. Alternatively, we dutifully accept erroneous details about what we read/see when we do not know much about the topic. These behaviors set us up to be manipulated and misled.
Imagine that you read two stories in a newspaper. The first one is about a sport you have played for 10 years. The story has several major facts wrong. You decide to disregard the story because the author did not know enough to write a competent article. You turn the page and read another article about something you know nothing about. You find it intriguing and were thrilled to learn something new.
Across town, a lady you do not know reads the same two articles. However, her reaction is the opposite. She knew nothing about your sport and believed everything. However, she knew about the topic in the second article and ignored it because many details were wrong.
Do you see what ...
"The tendency should always be towards the general, and the bias towards self is the beginning of all disorder, in war, politics, economics, in man's individual body." -- Blaise Pascal (French Philosopher 1623 - 62)
Many lectures can given to fully dissect this quote. We would like you to focus on this more simple interpretation: If each person focuses too much only on him/herself, the end result would be societal dysfunction.
Do not confuse this as stating individuals should not have personal goals or exhibit self-interest. Self-interest is what drives one to find what you like most, which you can then contribute to society. However, there is a limit because everyone is different and, to function as a society, there must be some common accepted truths and norms.
Self-interest and selfishness are wholly different, but are often conflated. An example of self-interest is: You have 20 apples and decide to sell 10, give two away free and keep eight for yourself. You profited from the apples and...
