One of the most-watched TED speakers, Tim Urban, explored the forces shaping society during a November visit to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Through donor support and a partnership between the College of Law and the College of Business, the writer, blogger, illustrator and author presented on campus in McCollum Hall.
“We work every day to build a community that thinks critically, acts boldly and leads with purpose,” said Kathy Farrell, James Jr. and Susan Stuart Endowed Dean of the College of Business. “Tim's work encourages all of us to develop a clear lens for understanding the forces shaping our society, and I would like to thank our generous supporters who made today possible.”
Dean Richard Moberly of the College of Law noted Urban’s ability to “crystalize puzzling questions” and make complex ideas clear through his "Wait But Why" long-form illustrated essays and his TED Talk, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator,” the second most-watched in history.
“My hope is that we will gain further insight into concepts such as civil discourse and learning to disagree respectfully, topics we discuss regularly at the College of Law,” Moberly said. “In 2016, Tim looked at American society and knew something was off. Political tribalism was on the rise. Anger was overflowing on social media and productive discussions seemed impossible, so he spent the next six years exploring the most pressing issues facing society.”
What he found evolved into his bestselling book, “What’s Our Problem?" To help explain, Urban developed a ladder framework, a spectrum of high and low rungs representing two modes of forming beliefs.
“Politics riles a totally different part of our brain that does its thinking in a totally different way,” he said. “People engage a different part of their brain than they would for less sensitive subjects.”
He contrasted high-rung thinking as curiosity-driven, truth-seeking, nuanced and complex with low-rung thinking driven by identity, defensiveness and tribal loyalty.
“At the high rungs, it’s about how you think and your ideas are like external science experiments. If someone points out a flaw in your idea, and you say, ‘Thank you. My goal is just to make this better,’” Urban said. “You listen to dissent and learn as you want to see if your idea can stand up to it.”
At the low rung, Urban said beliefs become tied to a person’s identity and certainty wins respect.
“Your beliefs are part of who you are, so you're much less open to changing your mind in the low rung. Dissent is infuriating, and you aren’t good at debating your ideas,” Urban said. “You're like a courtroom with just one attorney in it, and it is not good at finding the truth at all.”
Urban added such tribal thinking fuels echo chambers, places where ideas aren’t tested but protected.
“The sacred beliefs of the echo chamber are like a baby,” he said. “Imagine if there was a baby here and I just kicked it. You would be appalled. I would probably go to jail. That's how an echo chamber views someone who disagrees with the sacred ideas of the group.”
Instead, Urban encouraged being part of an idea lab, which he called a support group.
“Your ideas are kicked around and played with, and it humbles you. It points out your biases and makes you more in touch with reality,” Urban said. “You end up being a great debater and you can back up your conviction.”
He said idea labs also strengthen collective intelligence, but the opposite happens in echo chambers, which prevent groups from thinking clearly. That allows what Urban calls “wrecking balls” to grow stronger as they try to break democratic norms.
“While people in the house are arguing how to fix it, wrecking balls are actively trying to break it. The wrecking balls don’t stand a chance against a united house,” Urban said.
When a student asked how to stay on the high rungs when others are not, Urban answered that the first step is self-awareness.
“If you're aware that you're doing a low-rung thing, then you're already way ahead of the game,” he said.
He shared that universities are meant to be “a messy place of ideas” in and out of the classroom.
“At its best, a university is an idea lab," Urban said. "It will make you a better thinker with a wide range of understanding."
