Course introduction

Thanks to the accelerating technology and cultural change of the information age, we find ourselves at a crossroads in human history. The decisions that we collectively make as a society in the next few years will have enormous ramifications for centuries to come, with potential for both unprecedented flourishing and unprecedented catastrophe. This class draws on a vital source for discovery and decision-making that is often underutilized—the practices and techniques that scientists have been developing for centuries and use every day. These practices constitute a way of thinking with widespread utility for everyone, informing judgment and decisions across a wide range of contexts. This course brings these elements together for the first time and welcomes students of every discipline to develop these skills in the context of real decisions at the personal and societal scales.

Many insights and conceptual tools from scientific thinking are of great utility for all kinds of reasoning, from reading the news critically to making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The focus in this course is on the errors humans tend to make, and the approaches scientific methodology has developed (and continues to develop) to minimize those errors. The course includes a discussion of the nature of science, what makes science such an effective way of knowing, how both non-scientific and scientific thinking can go awry, and how we can reason more clearly and successfully as individuals, as members of groups, and as citizens of democracy.

We explore these themes experientially, often with in-class activities and discussions, culminating in two open-ended projects to design better methods of deliberation and decision making, first as groups, and then as individuals. Co-taught at UC Berkeley by faculty from Physics, Philosophy, and the social sciences, SSS fosters intellectual advancement for interdisciplinary knowledge seekers.

Related Projects

Third Millennium Thinking

Scientific Thinking For All: A Toolkit

High school curriculum. Based on this course. Developed in collaboration with the Nobel foundation.

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