To Think Like A Freak, Do Away With Your Moral Compass

I kicked my year 2020 by putting down a list of books I want to read before the end of the year, one of them being “Think Like A Freak”. The authors, STEVEN D. LEVITT and STEPHEN J. DUBNER, wrote the book in an attempt to teach people to think like freaks.

What does it mean to think like a freak? Here’s the meaning in their own words:

“It strikes us that in recent years, the idea has arisen that there is a “right” way to think about solving a given problem and of course a “wrong” way too. This inevitably leads to a lot of shouting–and, sadly, a lot of unsolved problems. Can this situation be improved upon? We hope so. We’d like to bury the idea that there is a right way and a wrong way, a smart way and a foolish way, a red way and a blue way. The modern world demands that we all think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally; that we think from a different angle, with a different set of muscles, with a different set of expectations; that we think with neither fear nor favour, with neither blind optimism nor sour scepticism. That we think like–ahem–a Freak”.

I’ll be sharing lessons, my thoughts and opinions, and also personal examples which may back up or negate some of the techniques shared in the book.  This is not an attempt to get you to read the book but as a personal recommendation, it is worth every read.

Lesson 1: Do away with your moral compass

When it comes to solving problems, one of the best ways to start is by putting away your moral compass. 

As the book puts it, “when you are consumed with the rightness or wrongness of a given issue…it’s easy to lose track of what the issue actually is.” 

Now if you are a deeply religious person or consider yourself as having a moral compass-as most humans do-you would not agree with this statement. Which in a way, proves their point. I struggled with it myself, staring blankly at those words to make sense of it. They tried to clarify that they are only suggesting setting your moral compass aside temporarily and not completely tossing it away but it still did not help.

“Is it even possible?” you might wonder.

I had this in mind for a while till an opportunity that unknown to me would test this theory came along. My younger sister is a British Parliamentary debater in school on a competitive level and as such, gets the most interesting topics to debate on. One evening in the week of their warm up debate which was taking place online, she received their topic for the night. A topic which would have her needing my view. A topic whose stance she must take had us blank for a moment.

She was expected to make a very strong case for POLYGAMY. That’s right, be in support of a polygamous union.

In case you do not see why it should disturb us, let me explain:

1. We are Christians- This means that we believe only the bible’s stance on marriage which is one man and one woman only.
2. Every lady wants to be the ONLY woman- this also means there isn’t much love for “the other woman” and cheating is heavily condemned.
3. Polygamy seems to favour the man only- a woman is vilified for remotely enjoying a compliment from another man while for men, excuses are made as to why its normal for him to want more than one woman.

Every part of us rebelled against the topic till we had to put away our moral compass. After the initial shock, we took a deep breath and decided to explore polygamy from all angles and look at it as just another topic. At that moment, it was like our brain opened, the ideas began to pour. Unbelievable!

The first thing we did was to define polygamy. 

When we defined polygamy, we realized that we were looking at it only in ways it favours men, hence our initial irritation at the topic. Polygamy includes POLYGYNY and POLYANDRY. This means a woman can enjoy polygamy as much as men can. That gave us some ideas. We penned down some questions:

• What are the perceived benefits of polygamy for men and could there be similar benefits for women too?

• What are the effects of polygamy on children?

• Would it be different if their mothers were open to and accepting of polygamy from the start? 

• If polyandry was practiced, would the effects be different on children?

• What would it be like if polygamy was discussed from the start?

• How would the cheating rate be?

• Is it fair for people to be confined to a monogamous union knowing how exploratory and insatiable humans can be?

You see that last question? That’s when we knew we had lost it.

It was amazing to us how quickly the ideas began to flow, and the turn our conversation took the moment we removed our initial bias and got rid of our moral compass-temporarily.

This might be a little problem in the grand scheme of things, but it shows clearly how possible it is to look at issues objectively and how much our moral compass can hold us back from finding solutions. 

Today it is polygamy. Tomorrow it could be legalizing abortion, then how to reduce waste, how to end terrorism or world hunger. The fact is, an unbiased analysis of a problem is not only achievable but also profitable in finding solutions to many problems we face today.