Julia Galef Scout Mindset

I decided to do this journal over a TED video. The speaker is, Julia Galef. She discusses how the mindset we are in, determines our judgements. She starts off by, describing two mindsets. The first mindset is, motivated reasoning or the soldier mindset. This mindset is, who do you want to win. The second is, “scout mindset.” This mindset is to see what’s there. To find information with an open mind. To take the information as it is, and adjust your reasoning. Galef tells us, that she wants us to develop scout mindset. So that we have good judgement. Galef tells us a story, to prove we need to develop scout mindset. The story is about Alfred Dreyfus. Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the French military. He had very good traits like: good memory, spoke different languages, no wrongdoings, etc. One day though, French general staff found a tore up piece of paper in a garbage bin. When they put it back together, they noticed it was someone giving Germany information. They accused Dreyfus quickly. They compared handwritings, and concluded it was a match. Searched his place and found nothing. They were just more convinced, he was the one. Dreyfus, went to jail. Later he did get out because, of an officer named Picquart. Because, Picquart proved he was innocent. The fact of the matter is, Dreyfus was innocent. He was convicted because, those individuals were not using scout mindset. They were using soldier mindset.

It is important in evaluating our thoughts. This video taught us that, if we have “soldier mindset”. We might not be right because, we did not evaluate all the facts with an open mind. For example, if we thought “Dell computers are not made well”. We would stay clear of getting a Dell computer. If we gathered all the facts and used scout mindset. We would see Dell computers are very reliable. This video brought to our attention mindsets. How the mindset we are in influences our