Albert Rutherford > Quotes

“Long-term solutions usually take a long time, a lot of effort, and sacrifice.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“Idols of the Cave are intertwined with passions, emotions, and ideology, and how people are shaped by their education.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“When we can Google an answer or have notes to answer our question, we create an “illusion of competence.”
― Albert Rutherford, Mathematical Thinking - For People Who Hate Math: Level Up Your Analytical and Creative Thinking Skills. Excel at Problem-Solving and Decision-Making.

“Descartes created four principles in his book Discourse on Method for proper critical thinking, but before anything else, you have to start with a clear conception of what idea you are reasoning toward.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“believed in what we today call the cultural relativity of morality. This means people have different perceptions of the moral goodness of certain acts because of where they live, where they grew up, and the circumstances of their lives. Therefore, what is acceptable in one culture or place is not acceptable in another. This”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“and that to achieve objective truth one had to hold minimal assumptions before investigating a problem.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“We are also the only creatures who possess the ability of metacognition. We can think about our thoughts. We can think and accept our biological limitations and realities and choose to act against them. We can choose to delay gratification, and we can choose to find solutions that make us happy in the long-term future. We can also choose to use systemic thinking instead of linear thinking when the situation asks for it.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“René Descartes”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“Francis Bacon and Critical Thinking”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“We fall victim to idols of the tribe when we assume our first impressions are the best or most correct answer.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“We can change flows quickly if we want, but stocks react more slowly to change. We can eat a piece of chocolate (inflow) and then go for a half-hour jog (outflow) to get rid of the extra calories. But our weight (stock) doesn’t instantly drop or rise. We can plant one hundred trees in a short period, but it will take decades for those trees to grow into a forest. Areas affected by droughts do not immediately see their reservoirs return to their normal water levels, nor are the negative impacts of global warming instantly reversed.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“A systems thinker knows that jumping to conclusions based on an individual event won’t answer long-term questions. There are countless nonlinearities in the world. Often, suppose we rush to embrace a quick solution to a problem. In that case, we often do not consider unintended negative consequences that can result from our actions.”
― Albert Rutherford, The Systems Thinker: Essential Thinking Skills

“Systems thinking is a set of synergistic analytic skills used to improve the capability of identifying and understanding systems, predicting their behaviors, and devising modifications to them in order to produce desired effects. These skills work together as a system.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“The way we select the sample is critically important, and it depends largely on the purpose of the study or the aim of the statistical task at hand.”
― Albert Rutherford, The Art of Statistical Thinking: Detect Misinformation, Understand the World Deeper, and Make Better Decisions.

“Bacon's Inductive Reasoning”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“is the unquestioned authority of ancient texts without any attempts to improve them. This”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“the stock’s size determines the amount of increase or decrease the feedback loop generates over time.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“Then, reason from these observations toward a broader conclusion, but you can't make a conclusion outside the scope of your collected observations.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“Although you can think of Bacon's method of induction as reasoning out a truth from observations, it is much more complex.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“To practice induction, you must start with a broad hypothesis then take several steps to prove it.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“Idols of the Marketplace have to do with the idea of propaganda,”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“The event level is about handling the present. As the present becomes under control, we slowly move to higher levels and gradually into the future. Actions taken on higher levels affect the future rather than the present.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“Descartes and Critical Thinking”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“The three keywords to his method were: question, doubt, test.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“This legacy also encompasses the idea of evidentiary-based communication such as journalism, in which facts based on empirical evidence are vitally important.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“The philosopher Richard Paul has described three kinds of people: vulgar believers, who use slogans and platitudes to bully those holding different points of view into agreeing with them; sophisticated believers, who are skilled at using intellectual arguments, but only to defend what they already believe; and critical believers, who reason their way to conclusions and are ready to listen to others.”
― Albert Rutherford, Elements of Critical Thinking: A Fundamental Guide to Effective Decision Making, Deep Analysis, Intelligent Reasoning, and Independent Thinking

“Bad uses of language, according to Bacon, can make science and philosophy contradictory and ultimately dead.[xiv] He writes:”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“A complex system is more like Forrest Gump’s mother’s box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get.”
― Albert Rutherford, Learn To Think in Systems: Use System Archetypes to Understand, Manage, and Fix Complex Problems and Make Smarter Decisions

“If you repeat this process enough, you will eventually have a set of facts supported by objective, empirical evidence.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History

“The fourth principle is to make your final idea as complete as possible.”
― Albert Rutherford, Lessons From Critical Thinkers: Methods for Clear Thinking and Analysis in Everyday Situations from the Greatest Thinkers in History