Doing Your Own Thinking
14-10-2026
It is fascinating that I do find that I make the most amount of sense when I'm by myself. Not just physically, but more metaphysically. In a deeper way. The phrase "alone on the planet" probably evokes what I'm trying to describe better.
I think this might be what Bucky was speaking of when he said "do your own thinking". He was referring to something which "critical thinking" falls short of capturing.
In the introduction of his book Critical Path, Bucky is replying to a letter sent to him by a young'un asking his guidance. Bucky says to him, and I paraphrase, "do what needs doing which YOU see need doing, which NOBODY else seems to see need doing". I think that's the true definition of "doing your own thinking".
And it makes sense then, why one human can make such huge difference. Because majority of the humanity is not doing its own thinking, for reasons I'm yet to uncover fully, the few who do the same are able to discover the highest stakes levers of the game. And so those who do their own thinking have implicitly become what Bucky called a Trimtab. Although, becoming a Trimtab 'explicitly' probably takes enough discipline that it becomes a title worthy of itself.