The Devil’s Favorite Trick: Borrowed Thinking
Hill’s blunt claim: most people do not think—they repeat. Borrowed thinking feels like certainty but produces no insight; it’s a drift engine powered by slogans and secondhand emot
Hill states plainly: “Most people do not think.” They repeat. Borrowed thinking feels like certainty but produces no insight because it never synthesizes. It only echoes.
Examples (modernized)
- Ideological slogans
- Secondhand outrage
- Fashionable cynicism
- Moral certainty without examination
How to tell you’re in borrowed thinking
There’s heat but no nuance. There’s certainty but no testing. There’s a desire to persuade, not to understand.
How to return to original thought
- Reduce input for 24 hours (lower noise).
- Write your own argument in plain language.
- Identify the strongest counterargument.
- Choose one small test in reality.
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