I think it is whether or not a person questions "experts" or believes them implicitly. The idea of credentials is, I believe, the main force behind the brainwashing that has occurred for millennia, and really ramped up over the last century or so in an ever increasingly dependent society. We are, from birth to death, told to "respect our elders", or "trust the experts", or "listen to your teacher", or "listen to your mother".

This "trust the experts" mantra permeates our entire social existence. All that credentials or experience gives to a person is the capability to create and present better arguments or present better rebuttals in a debate. It doesn't give ANY weight to the argument itself. For example; a skilled journalist, interviewing various people with biology lab experience, and being discerning about the information they gather could present exactly the same argument (word for word, data for data) as a MD PhD on some topic in their area of study. But we would naturally weigh the MD PhD's argument above the journalist because they have more letters on their name; FOR THE EXACT SAME ARGUMENT!

In almost every case we assign our critical thinking skills over to others when their argument becomes confusing or complex. It is easier to rely on their expertise than really dig into parts we don't quite understand, or don't have the experience ourselves to analyze sufficiently. It is this assignment of critical thinking over to others, this trust in others experiences, that devolves what should be a debate into a lecture, which then leads to so many being asleep (who doesn't fall asleep during lectures!).

Ongoing debate and continual presentations of new evidence, the critical thinking of many brains with "eyes on" keeps us alive. Yet so many of our clichés are about not debating; so many of our teachings are about using emotion and a reliance on others instead of using our own critical thinking.

I think the reason some are more awake than others has to do with a persons propensity to not "listen to our mother" (without question).

Is this a learned or genetic behavior? I have no idea, probably both, but I think it is this key quality that causes the difference between the two populations.

I think it is whether or not a person questions "experts" or believes them implicitly. The idea of credentials is, I believe, the main force behind the brainwashing that has occurred for millennia, and really ramped up over the last century or so in an ever increasingly dependent society. We are, from birth to death, told to "respect our elders", or "trust the experts", or "listen to your teacher", or "listen to your mother".

This "trust the experts" mantra permeates our entire social existence. All that credentials or experience gives to a person is the capability to create and present better arguments or present better rebuttals in a debate. It doesn't give ANY weight to the argument itself. For example; a skilled journalist, interviewing various people with biology lab experience, and being discerning about the information they gather could present exactly the same argument (word for word, data for data) as a MD PhD on some topic in their area of study. But we would naturally weigh the MD PhD's argument above the journalist because they have more letters on their name; FOR THE EXACT SAME ARGUMENT!

In almost every case we assign our critical thinking skills over to others when their argument becomes confusing or complex. It is easier to rely on their expertise than really dig into parts we don't quite understand, or don't have the experience ourselves to analyze sufficiently. It is this assignment of critical thinking over to others, this trust in others experiences, that devolves what should be a debate into a lecture, which then leads to so many being asleep (who doesn't fall asleep during lectures!).

Ongoing debate and continual presentations of new evidence, the critical thinking of many brains with "eyes on" keeps us alive. Yet so many of our clichés are about not debating; so many of our teachings are about using emotion and a reliance on others instead of using our own critical thinking.

I think the reason some are more awake than others has to do with a persons propensity to not "listen to our mother" (without question).

Is this a learned or genetic behavior? I have no idea, probably both, but I think it is this key quality that causes the difference between the two populations.