Should Employers Who are Looking for New Hires With Critical Thinking Skills, Reject Applicants Who Believe Conspiracy Theories???

The problem being that an anti intellectual is someone who rejects academic consensus and comes to their own conclusion. Are we for instance supposed to believe Jeffery Epstein killed himself?

Stephen3141 said:

The fast advance in software tools, that can allow the automation of many
mundane human jobs, IS GOING TO TRIGGER A MASSIVE RE-ORGANIZATION
OF THE JOB MARKET IN AMERICA.

If you want a primer on the types of jobs that software could automate, try reading the
the referenced book (below) on Generative Artificial Intelligence.

IF anti-intellectual Christians think that they are being "discriminated" against NOW,
this is the tip of the iceberg. More and more Americans without critical thinking skills,
will find themselves without a job, because (I assert) anti-intellectual Christians are often
working jobs that do not require critical thinking skills.

More and more, the jobs that will be offered will require (human) critical thinking skills,
and the ability of humans to use and leverage automated software tools. Managing these
software tools, will require critical thinking skills.

Expect to see more and more anti-intellectual Christians, who cannot handle the modern
technical job market, appealing to their right to be hired on the basis of "freedom of religion",
or some other irrelevant argument. Christians WITHOUT CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS, DO NOT
HAVE ANY "RIGHT" TO BE HIRED FOR JOBS THAT REQUIRE CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS.

Generative AI in Practice: 100+ Amazing... book

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I have stated what is obvious to professional analysts of the coming American job
market. But, I am specifically addressing Christians. There is no future in being an
anti-intellectual Christian. If you are one, then you do NOT stand in the historic
tradition of Christians who embrace the life of the mind.

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While I'm an advocate for Critical Thinking skills, I don't want to resort to shaming people into taking steps to improve their perceptions and rational deliberation. Besides, not everyone has equal abilities where more advanced technical thinking is up and center in the job market, and those with the ability to engage higher levels of critical thought should be the ones helping others figure things out in life, not cajoling folks to "keep up or lose out."

Only an anti-Christian system of society would insist on that form of graceless, 'merit' based employment. No one HAS to install A.I. tech and replace what human beings can (and often should) do.

What is an "anti-intellectual Christian" exactly?

A young-Earth creationist?

A vaccine skeptic?

I know a guy who is a theoretical physicist and a Seventh Day Adventist who doesn't believe in evolution. He has been working as a physicist for decades. Clearly this position has not impacted his work

"thinking critically" isn't what you think it is. You seem to believe it involves unquestioning adherence to certain ideological and political beliefs and a distrust of religion --that isn't what it is. Here is an example:

The liberal asserts "diversity is a good thing, and it is our strength"!

Person who doesn't think critically agrees with him without thinking it over.

Critical thinker asks "how and why is 'diversity' a strength? Who told you that"?

Stephen3141 said:

I disagree with you, in a very basic way.

Being "anti-intellectual" is not agreeing or disagreeing with some arbitrary group of people.
It is rejecting formal logic, and rejecting a careful consideration of data (this is a simplified
explanation, I admit), and leaping to conclusions that are not waranted. The dysfunction
includes a warped concept of what "our shared reality" is.

Being anti-intellectual is a type of methodology in thinking, that is dysfunctional.

This explanation needs to be greatly filled out. But I am asserting that being
anti-intellectual is holding to a dysfunctional concept of what proper reasoning
is, and is independent of groups of people who believe different things.

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As someone who actually taught formal logic at a university in a previous life, you can rest assured that very few people are using it in everyday life lol

but yes, people *should* understand logic, and how to interpret data. But a devout Christian can do both of those things and remain Christian. Here is a good example:

Stephen3141 said:

I do not live in a world in which Christian ideals govern the American economy.

I understand your idealism. But, I live in an America where students NEED to be
honestly told if their reading and STEM skills are sub-par, as a form of kindness.

And, very few American businesses can AFFORD to operate with under-skilled
employees, who are being tutored into becoming something greater than they
currently are. American businesses must be able to COMPETE, whether or not
this is an attractive characteristic to the younger Christian generations.

Also, the educational system in America is based on merit and accomplishment,
not on good will. Students who cannot (or will not) learn the problem-solving
skills in a particular course, will not pass the course. This is how life works.

With regard to "AI" technology, as with the automation of all jobs, this is an
economic choice that many businesses will not be able to avoid. There will
still be very interesting job opportunities that allow a LOT of creativity, but
these will be in areas that cannot be fully automated by software. And these
creative and very talented types of jobs, are not what a person without critical
thinking skills could handle.

I think that Christian discussions of modern American economic issues, should
be in the context of the reality of making a living, in modern America.

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I fully understand that, but how do you think we should evaluate the application of the main point of your OP title?

What's to stop an employer from assuming a Christian who believes a Premillennial view of Eschatology is simply suffering from conspiratorial delusions?

Stephen3141 said:

I understand your idealism. But, I live in an America where students NEED to be
honestly told if their reading and STEM skills are sub-par, as a form of kindness.

And, very few American businesses can AFFORD to operate with under-skilled
employees, who are being tutored into becoming something greater than they
currently are. American businesses must be able to COMPETE, whether or not
this is an attractive characteristic to the younger Christian generations.

Also, the educational system in America is based on merit and accomplishment,
not on good will. Students who cannot (or will not) learn the problem-solving
skills in a particular course, will not pass the course. This is how life works.

Click to expand...

Amen!

Merrill said:

I know a guy who is a theoretical physicist and a Seventh Day Adventist who doesn't believe in evolution. He has been working as a physicist for decades. Clearly this position has not impacted his work

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What I saw as recently as last year in the tech / IT industry I would say "critical thinking" became less important than the skills and certifications you had.

Do you know and can you demonstrate your knowledge of.. (insert whatever tech skill they are looking for)?

After that they get into things like, will this person be able to play reasonably well with others, etc?

As long as they have the skills, play quasi-well with others, will do the job for the $ offered and don't make waves (this largely means keeping whatever beliefs they have largely to themselves) the company really didn't care with some exceptions.

You could believe that the tooth-fairy is really King-Kong in disguise and was going to sell a 1/2 price rocket ship to Elon and the company would not care as long as it did not impact your job and you kept it to yourself.

I am not sure what anti-intellectual Christian is, but those with heterodox views certainly do have their place. Hats off to this near crazy doctor that linked antibiotics with the ability to cure some types of ulcers. The Doctor Who Drank Infectious Broth, Gave Himself an Ulcer, and Solved a Medical Mystery
The problem is being able to distinguish what is promising with things that are clearly of no use.
Sometimes Christians get it right and other times they are wrong. I am not sure what drives their groupthink results. Liberals too react in groupthink quite a bit. I suppose if one never crosses the ideological lines and cannot take an issues with the herd's side, then you are more anti-intellectual than the one that always takes the most extreme views.

From that link:

"The medical elite thought they knew what caused ulcers and stomach cancer. But they were wrong — and didn't want to hear otherwise."​

They still continue not seeking the truth.
For centuries it has been known that cabbage juice heals even bleeding ulcers in the stomach.
Low cost. No or close to no side effects. Nothing like drugs.

It was forbidden by federal law in the usa in the 1950's.

Stephen3141 said:

Should Employers Who are Looking for New Hires With Critical Thinking Skills, Reject Applicants Who Believe Conspiracy Theories?

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It depends on which conspiracy theory you mean. Not all are alike. Satan's kingdom does have conspiracies; so we do need to evaluate each one >

"Test all things; hold fast what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

And it appears to me, that some number of claimed conspiracies can not be proven or disproved with court admissible evidence. Only with God, then, can I make sure.

But also we need to test if something should get our attention > submit to how God guides our attention and use of our time.

And test what a person wants us to do about a claimed theory. Even if it were true, is it a wise investment of our attention? And should we do what someone is trying to get us us to do about the conspiracy theory??

I notice how ones can want us to look down on certain people and not pray with hope for them. What, then, is someone's motive for pushing a conspiracy theory? Is it loving any and all people like Jesus desires us to love? Or, is the conspiracy theorist just trying to get us to distrust any and all government, for one example? And is the person tempting us to be unforgiving and self-righteously critical?

And each person is different. One person has looked into a theory and has jumped to a conclusion, without court admissible evidence. Meanwhile someone else is just trusting what someone claims, without looking in to it > accepting it only because he or she already does not like the people who are accused of a conspiracy. And there can be real conspiracies which we can verify.

Stephen3141 said:

anti-intellectual Christians

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This is a generalized term which can be used to automatically put down people who do not agree with you!

It is used to criticize Christians who claim the election was stolen. Or >

Who do not believe in evolution which has not been proven by the scientific method.

And ones can be criticized for believing men are men.

Sometimes the anti-intellectuals are the ones accusing the intellectuals. They can use name calling when they have nothing to back their claim.

Stephen3141 said:

More and more Americans without critical thinking skills,
will find themselves without a job, because (I assert) anti-intellectual Christians are often
working jobs that do not require critical thinking skills.

Click to expand...

Someone can have the skills but is not using them for certain theories. So, I would evaluate each one.

Stephen3141 said:

More and more, the jobs that will be offered will require (human) critical thinking skills,
and the ability of humans to use and leverage automated software tools. Managing these
software tools, will require critical thinking skills.

Click to expand...

Yes, and the thinking skill for operating a technical thing can be different from being able to evaluate if evidence is court admissible plus if it applies appropriately to a given case.

Stephen3141 said:

Expect to see more and more anti-intellectual Christians, who cannot handle the modern
technical job market, appealing to their right to be hired on the basis of "freedom of religion",
or some other irrelevant argument. Christians WITHOUT CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS, DO NOT
HAVE ANY "RIGHT" TO BE HIRED FOR JOBS THAT REQUIRE CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS.

Click to expand...

Like I offer > skill for evaluating a social theory might not be the same as skill for technical thinking. Plus, someone's personal motives can have a major effect on what someone is willing to believe. For one example > if you are ready to be unforgiving, you can be fair game for a theory which is intended to make you unforgiving against someone you don't want in office. To me, it seems people can believe anything said against the candidate they don't want - - just because it can make the candidate look bad. They claim and/or accept things they have no way of testing; plus they don't even know if the person telling them something is a reliable person > they *assume*.

Stephen3141 said:

There is no future in being an
anti-intellectual Christian. If you are one, then you do NOT stand in the historic
tradition of Christians who embrace the life of the mind.

Click to expand...

If we are Christians, we need to not trust in and depend on our own minds >

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;"
(Proverbs 3:5)

Look what happened when the Jewish leaders used critical thinking but did not make sure with God >

Joshua chapter 9.

To me, it appears that plenty of both theorists *and* thinkers all can assume their source people, *total strangers*, are reliable.

Stephen3141 said:

By the way...

I see "critical thinking skills" as a skill.
I see critical thinking skills, as part of our shared reality,
that Chritians OUGHT TO EMBRACE as part of reality.

I reject lightweight arguments about "the goodness of diversity",
where "diversity" is not defined. I would say the same about all
sorts of other terms that are commonly used rhetorically, but not
precisely defined.

One of the worst books on Generative AI that I am reading, is by Maria
Johnsen, who promotes the idea of using "good" data and removing
"bad data" from training sets, but (so far) has not defined what she means
by "good" or "bad". These types of arguments, are useless.

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And I'm not sure what all of this has to do with Conspiracy thinking. I was under the impression that this thread had something to do with association employer choices when engaging potential employees who entertain conspiracy.

^^^ to the op.
Not when the vast majority of "conspiracy theories " prove to be true and are rooted in truth.

And the real liars and are driving agendas that have no truth in it. ( SEE Harvard ASCH study. )
I MEAN liars lie and WANT TO make others become believers IN THEM ( anti- Christ spirits) . I heard the other day " people don't want to hear your oppinion, they want to hear their oppinion coming out of your mouth. ". I MEAN ISNT that is what a university is REALLY DOING ? BUT THEY CALL THAT EDUCATION. AND DRESS IT UP IN SHEEPS CLOTHES.

Stephen3141 said:

The title is clear.
I'm addressing job applicants who embrace conspiracy theories.

(Of course, there is the other topic of employers who embrace
conspiracy theories, and are looking for "like-minded" employees.)

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I'm a job applicant at the present time. I believe in a Premill view of eschatology (which isn't uncommonly seen as a form of 'Conspiracy Thinking.)

From my angle on things, it's the employers who need to get a clue and stop embracing 'Technological Mammonism' as their prime directive. Not everyone can be, or will be, a computer programming hack. And I say this as someone with a degree in Philosophy.

If some people don't like my evaluation of their perspectives, so be it.