The New Rules of Critical Thinking in the Age of AI

A few weeks ago, I found myself doing something I once promised I wouldn’t: doomscrolling.

It was past midnight in Amsterdam. I should’ve been asleep.

Instead, I was hunched over my phone, flipping through an endless stream of AI breakthroughs, economic collapse predictions, political outrage, and spiritual gurus teaching wisdom through... lip-sync videos.

I put the phone down, heart racing, mind spinning. And I remember thinking,
“None of this feels real. But it feels real.”

That night became a line in the sand.

I realized I needed to upgrade not just what I consumed, but how I thought.

Our world is being engineered to hijack our attention and fracture our sense of reality.
And most of us don’t even realize it’s happening.

The Great Collapse of Common Sense

Once upon a time, reality felt more... stable. There were journalists. There were facts. There were actual debates. We disagreed, but at least we were arguing over the same set of data.

That world is gone.

Today, you wake up and you’re already inside a simulation.

Algorithms show you what will keep you scrolling, not what’s true. Politicians amplify stories that serve their agenda. Media companies engineer outrage. And AI? It can now generate stories, voices, even entire people out of thin air.

The result? Truth has no center. Everything sounds reasonable. Everyone sounds confident. And we’re left floating — overwhelmed, reactive, and confused.

That’s why we need a new skill. Not just the old-school version of “critical thinking.” A deeper discipline that helps us see through the noise and hold onto what’s real. Something that still holds.

The Layers of Illusion

Here’s a simple way to picture the mental landscape we’re all navigating—like layers of rock, but made of stories, incentives, and noise:

1. The Feed Layer
   Where your emotions get mined. Every tweet, reel, and headline is built to spark a feeling. It’s optimized for dopamine, not truth.

2. The Narrative Layer
   Where institutions—governments, media, corporations—shape meaning. They decide what’s a crisis, what’s a hero, what’s an enemy. Repeat something long enough and it becomes “truth.”

3. The Incentive Layer
   The hidden engine behind it all. Every message, viral post, and “movement” has a payoff—money, power, attention, or influence. Once you see the incentive, the illusion begins to fade.

4. The Reality Layer
   What remains when you strip away the noise: physics, human limits, time, risk, moral truths. You can’t program away gravity. You can’t fake cause and effect.
   This is reality. This is where Critical Thinking lives.

What Is Critical Thinking?

Critical Thinking is the discipline of separating signal from noise to uncover what remains true even when every story, algorithm, and agenda has been stripped away.

It’s about becoming calm in the chaos, grounded in clarity, centered in truth.
In a world of infinite filters, your inner awareness becomes your compass.

The Critical Thinking Protocol

Here’s how I do it—and how you can too:

1. Name the Simulation
   What world is this message trying to make me believe in? Every ad, post, or pitch paints a version of reality. Start noticing the frame.

2. Locate the Incentive
   Who gains if I believe this? Every narrative has a payoff. Follow the trail—money, power, attention, influence.

3. Define the Units
   Replace vague ideas like “growth” or “impact” with clear, measurable terms.
   If someone claims AI will “save education,” ask: How exactly? For whom? With what results?

4. Question the Assumptions
   What has to be true for this to make sense? What could disprove it? Truth often hides in what hasn’t been said.

5. Anchor to What Doesn’t Change
   Return to what’s always true: human nature, time, energy, limits, incentives. Algorithms can twist perception; they can’t rewrite reality.

6. Run Opposing Simulations
   Ask AI (or your own mind) to argue the opposite view—better than the original. You’re not seeking the “right side,” you’re seeking what still holds after both sides collide.

7. Decide and Log the Frame
   After all that, write down your conclusion:
   “Given what I know (and what I don’t), here’s the belief or action that still makes sense.”
   This makes thinking visible. You stop needing certainty and start knowing where you stand.

AI: Mirror, Mirage, and Mind Gym

AI is both the biggest illusion-maker and the best thinking tool we’ve ever built. Yes, it can create fake people, fake voices, fake news. But it can also test your beliefs, reveal blind spots, and model new possibilities.

Whenever I hold a strong belief, I ask AI to challenge it.
Sometimes it humbles me. Sometimes it strengthens me. Every time, it sharpens my mind.
Used wisely, AI becomes your personal dojo for truth.

Practices to Reclaim Your Clarity

Start this week:

1. The Reality Audit
   Pick any strong claim you see today (political, scientific, spiritual) and ask:

   • What world is this trying to make me see?
   • What evidence or experience supports it?
   • What stays true even if it’s wrong?

2. The Constants List
   Keep a personal list of truths that stay valid no matter the trend. A few of mine:

   • Attention is limited
   • People follow stories more than logic
   • Systems without feedback fail
   • Energy can’t be created or destroyed
   • Incentives shape outcomes more than intentions
     Review this often—it’s your mental compass.

3. Feedback Detox
   Once a week, go a full day without algorithmic input. No feeds, no “For You” pages. Just your own thoughts.
   Write down one idea from your own mind, not the crowd’s. That’s clarity.

Watch Out for Mental Traps

• Intellectual Theater: Fancy words, no proof
• AI Extremism: “It will save us” or “It will destroy us”
• Ideological Loyalty: Mistaking tribe for truth
• Endless Doubt: Questioning forever but never landing

Clarity is awareness in motion.

The Deeper Game: Sovereignty of Thought

You don’t need to win arguments or sound clever.
The real game is this: reclaim your sovereignty in a world built to hijack it.

When you practice Critical Thinking, something powerful happens:
You stop reacting. You start responding.
You stop floating. You start standing.
You just know.

And that kind of knowing… that’s the real revolution.