Map reading/Orienteering - Most people are literally lost without GPS
Basic troubleshooting and repair knowledge. Like just how to use a multimeter and the basics of how electricity works and how to repair something.
Honestly just basic knowledge of everything in our daily lives would be useful. People should understand how their phone works and how it gets internet access, how their car works, and stuff like that.
I think that we should require more humanities courses for STEM degrees. I had to take some english courses but that was about it. Seems like a lot of STEM-lords (particularly the computer ones) need to take a cultural anthropology course and chill out a little. Or philosophy but that risks making them worse.
If ethics courses actually worked business majors would be much more priority no?
Listening.
Basic it skills
How to build a usable nuclear fusion power plant. Zero is way too many for such a difficult task.
Listening and empathy. Putting themselves in others’ shoes instead of just seeing/speaking/thinking about I, me and myself.
Media literacy and reading comprehension. Specifically, the ability to infer an intended target audience for a particular piece of work. A large part of media literacy is being able to view a piece of media, and infer the intended audience. Maybe you see an ad for pink razors, and can infer that it is aimed at women who shave. But that’s just a simple example. It should also extend to things like internet comments.
People have become so accustomed to laser-focused algorithms determining our media consumption. Before, people would see a video or comment they didn’t resonate with, infer that it wasn’t aimed at them, and move the fuck on. But now, people are so used to their algorithm being dialed in. It is to the point that encountering things you don’t vibe with is outright jarring. People don’t just move on anymore. They get aggressive.
Maybe I make a reel about the proper way to throw a baseball. I’ll inevitably get at least one or two “but what about me? I’m in a wheelchair, on crutches, have a bad shoulder, have bad eyesight and can’t aim, etc… Before, those people would have gone “this clearly isn’t aimed at me” and moved the fuck on. But now they make a point of going “but you didn’t make this specifically for me.
It has gotten so bad that content creators have started adding disclaimers to their videos, news articles, opinion pieces, etc… It’s fairly common to see quick “and before I get started, this video is just for [target demographic]” as if it’s a cutesy little thing. But the reality is that if they don’t add that disclaimer, they’ll be inundated with “but what about [outlier that the content clearly wasn’t directed at]” types of responses.
Critical thinking.
They should teach basic philosophy in schools; common formal fallacies and such.
But then the eletorate would actually be making good decisions, how would the rich afford their 10th yacht?
How to turn greenhouse gasses into pure drinking water. I wish I knew how to do that.
Financial literacy
Number 1 by far is knowing how to separate your opinions from your identity.
I’ve been thinking about this for years and I can’t shake the thought that identity politics is the root of most major problems in western society (esp. US). It means people interpret criticism of their opinions as personal attacks instead. This overblown defensive reaction leads to turning around and conflating the opinions of others with their worth as human beings.
Yes, there some truth to that. If you hold hateful & bigoted opinions, I would say that makes you a shit person. But you’re not necessarily condemned to that forever, because opinions can potentially change. This is tied in with Karl Popper’s “Paradox of Tolerance”, i.e. ideas should be tolerated unless they themselves are so intolerant as to undermine the wider marketplace of ideas.
When we equate (potentially temporary) opinions of others with immutable value, that’s what leads to dehumanizing them and taking away their fundamental rights. And as has always been the case throughout history, the burden falls primarily on vulnerable groups (immigrants, ethnic or social minorities, children and the elderly, etc).
People need to understand that YOU ARE NOT YOUR OPINION. Others can and should criticize your opinions, but that doesn’t mean they are attacking you personally. Defend the opinions, but don’t turn around and go ad-hominem in response. And for fuck’s sake, unless an opinion is so abhorrent or intolerant that it threatens someone else’s existence (e.g. Nazis), you don’t get to take away the holder’s rights to citizenship, food, shelter, healthcare, etc.
EDIT: And yes I do consider this a skill that people have to learn. I think most should be capable by maybe… age 7.
Critical thinking. Religion and our education system beat curiosity out of people and they end up being unable to process information on their own.
Also driving. People can’t stay in their own lanes, stop three car lengths from an intersection because they don’t understand that the ‘see the tires in front of you’ made sense in low sedans with sloped hoods and not their massive SUVs with flat hood, and don’t bother signaling when changing lanes slowly.
One thing many forget about critical thinking is to also be critical of your own thoughts as well. Too many people think it’s only about attacking other people’s opinion.
Critical thinking. Religion and our education system beat curiosity out of people
And now AI is here to run cleanup on any critical thinking those two haven’t already destroyed.
and don’t bother signaling when changing lanes slowly
I always love playing the road trip game of “Are they changing lanes slowly without signaling, or are they fucking with their phone and just drifting?” 😠
Oof yes and don’t get me started on roundabouts.
Is nuance a skill?
Like, the world isn’t black and white, left and right, right and wrong, etc, but too many people want to simplify complex issues down into binary choices and leave out any trace of nuance.
We live in a hyperbolic age. People’s attention has been commodified so almost all messaging is exaggerated to pull attention to one pole or another. Nuance and patient, thoughtful debate can’t live in that atmosphere.
Not to mention we’re in a period of morality panic. We’ve been brainwashed to think there are only good and bad, either with us on all thoughts or against. We’ve been sucked into a hard lined good vs. evil plot, except everyone is wrong.
Are you really claiming that ALL messages are exaggerated and that thoughtful debate can NEVER exist???
😜
Clutches
pearlshyperboles
Maybe related: The ability to understand complete statements and considering the context, instead of latching onto one phrase and ignoring the rest.
Not sure if it’s an actual skill, but it certainly is a trait that fits this question. It’s gotten so bad that I tend to tag people with “Nuanced” if they’ve proven to understand this, so that I know they’re actually reasonable if I see them in a discussion over a controversial topic.
It’s like we live in a floating point world, and too many people are only capable of dealing with integers lol.
I’m stealing this.
I wish I could do this with the web version. I’d like to tag people “Made sense once - don’t block”
I agree, and I’d say the backing skill is emotional maturity or emotional management
We’re living in a particularly toxic time, and splitting is a reversion
Somewhat related is the belief that things are simple rather than complex. I’d argue that thinking something is simple - or believing you have a solid understanding of it - should be a red flag that you probably don’t know as much as you think. I mean, when have you ever heard a true expert give a short and simple answer to anything?
How to handle criticism. To take the best from it, learn from it, try to become more of what is important to yourself and leave the rest.
It’s either not taking it at all, thinking everyone is wrong… or it’s giving it to much attention. Like thinking the opinion of people that you don’t respect at all, that you don’t even like counts too. You’ll never be right for everyone. But being criticised by people that care to make your life better is actually precious.
