e-Nablor Educational Outreach

Critical Thinking Meets Faith, Love and Complexity

Assessing sensible and latent value with goals and beliefs… my cup runneth over.

Once while heating a partial cup of coffee in the microwave, I observed a natural phenomenon that I had learned about many years ago, but had not thoroughly appreciated; the concept of supersaturation and latent potential.

Many times at work I'll warm my coffee in the microwave while waiting for the fresh coffee to stop dripping from the basket. Normally, I pay attention to what I am doing. But, occasionally I fall victim to distraction, memory muscles take occupation of the void between my hears... I heated my remnant coffee as if my cup were full.

"Great," I thought to myself, "my coffee just exploded all over the inside of the microwave." Much to my surprise, the coffee did not react as I expected. Delighted and assured that the benevolent forces among the cosmos were looking down on my puny frame with ill-gotten favor, I topped off my cup with freshly brewed coffee.

What happened next not only took me by surprise, but reminded what a mistake it is to base fact and expectation solely on one's own personal experiences, observations and knowledge.

The coffee erupted like a volcano as I stopped pouring the hot coffee from the pot into the cup. Bewildered and confused, it took a co-worker to explain what had transpired. The coffee was superheated.

Now for those of you that have reason not to be familiar with term superheat, latent or sensible, it is possible to heat fluid in excess of the boiling point and not have it boil on the surface. Once something is heated in excess of its relative boiling point, the energy continues to transfer, build and store in the mass (coffee) until another force (topping off) is acted upon it.

As the sensible temperature of the coffee increase, it eventually levels out at the boiling point. For some reason, the surface area of the coffee acted as a barrier. It was only through a physical catalyst (pouring the coffee) that the coffee was able to transform and changes states, a.k.a physical manifestation of change. The latent potential stored in the superheated coffee cup was not apparent for observation until it was released. Had I used a thermometer, I would have seen the "sensible" temperature of the coffee increase to approximately 212 degree F and stop. At that point, the coffee continues to absorb heat through endothermic reaction even though this transfer is not “sensible”. That stored heat or latent energy potential massed, waiting to transform into something “sensible” after being hidden.

Without the insight of a co-worker, I might have never noticed or cared what happened during the coffee warmer.

Through the gifts of a bountiful table of life, I believe we, people, are all like that cup of coffee, waiting for a force to act on us to bring us to a higher energy state. This world is so rich in the forces that surround us, we too are saturated or overwhelmed by our environment. How could we possibly be aware of all of that hidden potential our emotional state can hold in our behaviors with one another?

That force is in the form of others to build relationships in our daily walk. Through considering behaviors in the present, past and future, we are given a chance to notice relationships, both social and physical, that might escape our attention and normal powers of observations. Their existence is a parallel plane, another dimension to our own knowledge and ignoring or resisting their observations in determining what is real is not thinking critically. An important part of critical thinking is taking note of those matters which are so subtle, they are difficult to detect, while allowing for the possibility of error and the unknown. Archaeology is a good example of gathering critical evidence.

Stories From Objects

Culture and heritage are key components to inventory when improving yourself through education. It's always prudent to inventory strengths and weaknesses. But how does one peer into that collide-scope on the horizon of their future, and, through the blur of the "lessons learned" lens sharpen focus on a direction for their development? And how can someone honestly see themselves for what they are and what they want in the future? They need a mirror that reflects an image. And, when we look at others, we see that image. Traditions are indicative of personal values that are passed from previous generations. When we look at others and consider what they think is important, we may want to model their behavior and choices.

At a quick glance, deciding what we want out of life is intimidating. While some may be more materialistic in their pursuits, other may lean toward a spiritualistic approach to adding value to their lives. In either case, when one speaks of their development, it is important to think about two things:

• Resources

• Adaptation

Resources and Adaptation

Being aware of your resources includes knowing what's happening around you. Whether these are social or scientific interests, we cannot be aware of everything that goes on around us. But, what we can do is pay particular attention to others in what they say or do. When it comes to what they believe, it is important to be mindful of others in their walk through life and adapt our beliefs accordingly. Although the timing of their unique perspective and input may not have apparent value, chances are their message has latent value, which lends to the dynamic of eternal life, timing, communication, critical thinking and faith.

Like computers that receive, store and process data, people can choose to accept something they observe as having relevant value to the needs in the moment or in the future. However, machines have the advantage of logic and objectivity to perform their tasks. Timing and protocol are crucial for the program to function and produce value. However, will they ever have the capacity to love? It seems logical, if machines can spur the emotions of users in gaming consoles, social media and other modes of communication, and, by extension, since machines are capable of inference to adapt, why can't they love? Is that the next horizon for automation? Or can we consider loyalty a form of love?

Regardless of the leaps and bounds of technology, biological animation, computers can only be a tool and can never reciprocate human affection. It can simulate, anticipate and respond like an human through deep leaning. But the spontaneity of human capacity is beyond understanding making the human-machine relationship or interface limitless. It is when we remove the human from the interface relationship that the machines capacity becomes defined. Machines help us cope with the complexity of interpreting, adapting and communicating change. Machines will evolve to become more like like. But will never have life. And knowing the difference between the two takes an appreciation for why thinking critically is important. It takes hard work and, most importantly, self discipline to keep your personal bias and pre-conceptions from clouding the issues that can be flashpoints.

Taming our emotional side for clarity

Sometimes the hard work of critical thing means we don't rely or trust our own instincts to base our assumptions. We might have the smarts to be comfortable with making decisions for ourselves and, maybe leading others. But there are times when we face challenges that require help from others. We gather intelligence to figure out what to anticipate. The means of sharing is a form of culture. Even when we are not seeking intelligence, we are influencing one another when one or more person gather in a space, cyber of physical. This can make us vulnerable when we are under stress and sometimes bring us into a characterization that is not who we identify ourselves to be. Awareness of our emotional intelligence helps us with self control and regulating wellness and mental health.

Another important suggestion of employing critical thinking into taming your emotions requires awareness to the hazards of accepting everything at face value or jumping to conclusions. Although this may seem elementary and obvious, it is not until an opinion or subject is explored more closely that the latent value becomes apparent. What you observe and believe as fact, in the present, can evolve into fallacy over time. And this where the value of faith, of believing in something other than what can be explained is critical for maturity and development. Because there is a great deal of natural phenomena we are not aware of, it makes sense to remain diligent to try and discover what is beyond our own understanding.

The Big Picture

· In the eleventh century, the world was thought to be flat.

· More recently, we practiced and enforced segregation as a means of order in this country.

· We still are trying to observe, understand and, based on selective modeling, form a conclusion to emulate phenomena. But the reality is many discoveries are stumbled on by accident during these scientific trials.

What is important to us as a society or as an individual changes over a span of a lifetime. So, at regular intervals, it is important to critically think about your values, goals and beliefs and determine:

1. What is really important to you, and do your actions or behaviors conflict with those beliefs?

2. Do your personal choices in consumption protect or destroy things you think are important?

3. When you purchase a good and service, do you consider the consequences of that purchase?

4. Are you aware of the cause and effect of promoting lifestyles through marketing?

5. Do you consider the way you spend your time important to you? How does the way you spend your time have an apparent or latent effect on others?

6. Do you have a plan of action to make progress in your development?

7. What do you consider success? Is it security through achievement in having stylish clothing, fancy devises and other possessions? Is it family and learning from mistakes? Is it finding new friends?

8. Do you have someone to mentor you with similar interest?