Hacker Remix

Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?

55 points by cannnot_think 1 day ago | 45 comments

I am writing this desperate to find out what to do. Most of my life, I have been 'listening' passively, without thinking. I don't have an internal monologue. I had a neuropsych evaluation which commented on my poor memory and inability to think.

How do I learn how 'to think'? How do I learn to create an internal dialogue to comment on my surroundings and tasks?

I am hoping for a book recommendation, or maybe a blog post. I've heard that Ulysses is a stream-of-consciousness book, but I have not checked it out.

I would hope that books help - but I have read a lot of books and still don't think. I am hoping for a tutorial or something to practice.

__rito__ 1 day ago

Writing is very underrated way of thinking, but I can recommend it highly. Start journaling and/or writing essays. Just write down what you think, feel, want to communicate, and what you understand. Just be clear and honest. pg has repeatedly written about this [0]. You can also choose to write technical posts.

Solving Math problems and competitive programming problems also enhace thinking.

Teaching is an underrated way, too. When you teach a hard concept, you really need to think a lot about how to get the idea across, how to make it accessible to different kinds of pupils.

[0]: https://paulgraham.com/writing44.html

starbugs 20 hours ago

I am not sure what exactly OP's condition is, but I can attest that writing will help to a degree regardless of whether you are overthinking, "thinking too little" or feeling unable to keep a chain of thoughts.

Generally, I'd like to learn more about what OP actually means. I would be pretty happy if I could stop my inner monologue most of the time. So I guess OP refers to the perceived inability to hold a chain of thought in their mind?

beezlebroxxxxxx 14 hours ago

I genuinely think they're being hyperbolic, or reaching for a metaphor, in order to regain agency. I'd wager his "inability to think" is an "inability to think for myself." Resolving the former is insurmountable (if not downright pointless because of the presuppositions involved; it's tilting at windmills), but resolving the latter is straightforward: read and write argumentative works more, study the structure of arguments, explain to yourself why one is more convincing than another, rinse and repeat. That follows with fixing a car just as much as it follows learning "how to think."

starbugs 13 hours ago

If the inability to think stems from the thought “I am unable to think”, then OP might be better off with written CBT tasks than just writing in general.

That’s pretty much doing what you suggested but with a clear instruction set on how to.

My experience is that under certain conditions your mind might not be able to get free writing correct in a way to make it really help you. Then, it might further discourage you from trying even though all that was wrong was not missing thoughts but habitual negative thoughts preventing you from doing what you want to do to begin with.

This can be quite tricky so it would be very helpful to learn more details about OP’s exact issue.

QuadmasterXLII 17 hours ago

Writing is absolutely the way. In the long term it probably helps with reasoning, but its medium term effect of mitigating memory issues is undeniable and in my opinion even more impactful.

codingdave 18 hours ago

Your best move is to follow up with a medical practitioner on that neuropsych exam. They will be able to give you advice and treatment specific to your own situation. While we all can give advice, and it might help, if you are skipping professional help specific to your situation, you are ignoring the lowest hanging fruit.

tzs 17 hours ago

I'm appalled at the amount of bad advice here. 12 hours and 35 answers after the question was asked there is only one correct response [1], plus one that doesn't really offer advice but asks followup questions that might lead them to a correct response.

The person says in their first paragraph:

> I had a neuropsych evaluation which commented on my poor memory and inability to think.

This suggests that something might be going on that is more than the usual reasons a person might feel that they aren't good at thinking. The usual reasons include inadequate eduction, lack of practice, lack of motivation, and similar.

Almost all the answers are suggesting ways that would be appropriate if the problem was due to one of those usual reasons.

Those are unlikely to actually help much if the problem is medical. Worse, they could lead to the person wasting time trying them instead of dealing with the medical problem.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=codingdave

ocean_moist 23 hours ago

I took a (turned into multiple) philosophy classes that forced me to explain hard concepts and my opinions on them to other people and then understand their perspective. I think this applies to many hard, deeply technical, subjects, but discussion is immensely popular in the pedagogy of philosophy.

The harder and more valuable part was putting those discussions into focused, clear, essays. I am a much better writer and thinker because of it.

The best way to learn how to think is to think. The way in which the quality of your thinking is best judged is in relation to other people. So just try a take your thoughts and try and put them in other people’s minds.