Critical thinking begins with recognizing that having information is not the same as understanding it.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table Of Contents
After years of working with audio equipment, I have a pretty good grasp of compression control. But that does not guarantee I will know what a particular vocal needs. The settings that worked yesterday may be inadequate for today’s needs.
There are many variables. A different singer, an alternate microphone, or a performance may have changed. Information tells me how the compressor works. Understanding requires me to listen, judge, and decide whether I should use it at all.
The longer I stay in this realm of creativity, the more evident the gaps become when collating information and actually understanding what it means.
The assumption is that once there are facts, understanding will follow. That is a reasonable expectation, but reality doesn’t always honor those conditions.
Knowing information does not beget understanding.
The Abundance of Answers
A trip to the library used to be how I would find answers. These days, all it takes is to type in a query. A search often produces thousands of results, and AI can compress them into a polished explanation within seconds.
The sheer volume is overwhelming. After reading enough articles or watching enough YouTube videos, it’s pretty easy to believe the information is understood.
But access gives us material, not meaning. We still have to use critical thinking. No amount of information automatically guarantees understanding.
The Illusion of Knowing
There have been plenty of times when I thought I understood something after reviewing it enough. But then there is the application.
Repeating an explanation can feel like reaching the conclusion on our own.
I remember my father teaching me how to fish. I had the information on how to set the hook in the fish’s mouth, but actually doing it took time and repetition. A lot of fish evaded the frying pan because I didn’t understand it yet.
The same thing happens when someone throws pottery. They can learn how the clay should be centered and repeat an expert’s instructions, but none of that teaches their hands how much pressure to apply as the walls begin to rise.
A set of instructions may be remembered perfectly. But the potter still has to feel how much pressure the clay will take before it collapses.
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Tittha Sutta, Udāna 6.4, Khuddaka Nikāya
In the Tittha Sutta, a king ordered that everyone in the city who had been blind from birth be gathered together and shown an elephant. Each person was brought into contact with a different part of the animal. One felt the head and compared it to a water jar. Another touched an ear and thought of a winnowing basket. The tusk resembled a plowshare, while the leg felt like a post. Others encountered the tail or the coarse tuft at its end.
The king asked them to describe the elephant. Each blind man insisted that his description was correct. The disagreement became so heated that they began striking one another while the king watched with amusement.
The Buddha used the story to describe people who become attached to one view and argue as though it represents the whole of reality. Each man had information about the elephant. The trouble came when none of them understood how little of it he had encountered.
Some things are timeless. The parable still seems pertinent today.
Lessons Learned
Most of us are using AI to some extent.
When I ask AI a question, I decide how much of the elephant it gets to touch. GPT has been a crucial research vehicle, and I depend upon it immensely.
But I might leave out important details in the prompts. That’s because I only see part of the elephant. AI can then build a sensible answer from the incomplete information I provide. Because the response is seemingly organized and confident, it becomes easy to trust.
That’s a mistake.
The failure is not having incomplete information. Everyone has incomplete information. The failure is becoming certain before recognizing its limits.
My collaborator Jeff Fried raised another concern. As AI-generated material spreads, future systems may rely more heavily on earlier AI interpretations rather than original human work and experience. An answer may therefore be several steps removed from its source before it reaches us. That does not make the answer wrong, but it gives us another reason to examine it before treating it as understanding.
What Turns Information Into Understanding
There was a time when I took that idea too literally. I gathered thoughts from anywhere I could grab them from the internet. The assumption was that the size of the acummulation gave me something worth saying.
Sometimes I could repeat an idea without understanding why it mattered or whether it held up outside the place where I found it.
Eventually, I had a come-to-Jesus moment. Research had given me plenty of material, but I still had to think through it. I needed to connect an idea to what I already knew and decide how much power I was willing to give it.
Then I had to test it against experience. The rubber meets the road. Some ideas survived. Others fell apart as soon as they faced reality.
I can’t face myself in the mirror and put aside personal integrity.
That process takes longer than collecting information. It also requires the willingness to revise a conclusion that no longer holds. This is where information also begins to become understanding.
Experience Is Not Automatically Understanding
Experience can improve judgment, but time alone does not guarantee it. Perfect practice makes perfect, while imperfect practice reinforces the mistake.
I have played drums long enough that I do not have to build every part from scratch. Sometimes a groove that worked before comes to mind, and I drop it into a new song too quickly. It may feel good under my hands while getting in the singer’s way. When that happens, I have to forget where the part worked before and listen again to the vocal and the arrangement.
Years of experience matter only if I am willing to hear that failure and change what I am doing. Otherwise, experience becomes a habit with a résumé.
Here are some things I have learned:
The real test comes when the old answers fail.
Understanding requires interpretation, integration, testing, revision, and judgment.
Greater access to answers increases the responsibility to define and utilize them.
No book, expert, experience, or AI alone can do that for us.
Can We Help You?
Do you understand the information guiding your decisions?
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Have you ever discovered that something you “knew” was not as solid as you thought? Tell us about it in the comments.
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There will be no quiz on the elephant.
Continue The Journey
The Fire of Inspiration: A Journey into Artistic Genius explores the philosophy of Mack-n-Cheeze Music in greater depth.
Because sometimes the wisest person in the studio has four paws.
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