Posthuman Blues

Thinking is not an innate human skill. We're born capable of stimulus response, which we refine to varying degrees during the course of adolescence and adulthood. Thinking is an acquired skill, like learning to ride a bike. (But unlike riding a bike, it's not a skill that can be conquered over a single afternoon.) The distinction between blind stimulus response and actual thinking is crucial and almost entirely overlooked. Everyone seems to be under the illusion that they can think, just as everyone with a political ax to grind "knows" that their cause is the "right" one. In my experience, this couldn't be farther from the truth.