Thinking is important. I know that probably sounds mundane if not downright obvious, but there is a reason I make this assertion. The fact of the matter is that any creature with a brain thinks on at least some level of complexity, and this ability to think allows for amazing possibilities. Thinking creatures are able to discern and make judgments; they are able to plan and calculate; they are able to form bonds with other things on a cognitive level. Naturally, this has led to the incorporation of thought into survival strategies for many species, such as complicated group alert systems by meerkats, tool-use by apes and otters, and the ability to learn.
Of course, not everything that goes on in the brain is what we would call thinking. There are plenty of reflexive programs that run through the brain, such as the command line your brain has to run to keep you breathing. Non-voluntary actions and knee-jerk reflexes are pre-programmed or conditioned / primed responses that constitute a different kind of mental process. Granted, no one has ever really given a sufficient, universally-accepted definition of what "thinking" is, but I think for the sake of discussion here we can say that things like jumping back when you step on something painful is not really an action you think about; it is a reflex.
Now, as humans we possess the double-edged sword of higher cognition, higher-level thinking, that many of our fellow species lack. The result is that we are able to think of things in the abstract, form and hold opinions and other ideas, and develop complex concepts such as language and culture that can be shared throughout the species. All of this is accomplished simply by putting our fantastically wired brains to use and, for the most part, can be done with very little effort on the part of the thinker. Consider the seemingly simple task of making a sandwich: for the well-adjusted human, this process takes little mental (and probably physical) effort assuming one knows the basics of how to make a sandwich, where the sandwich-making materials are, and what kind of sandwich one intends to make.
The key phrase here is "well-adjusted" and, as anyone who does think critically will point out, not everyone out there is well-adjusted. A social problem that is currently gaining more and more attention is that people seem to be doing less higher-level thinking and more lower-level thinking or merely abiding by simple conditioned or primed response. When we talk about the higher-lower distinction, we are talking about the difference between critical observation and analysis ("There is a rock, it is composed of materials X, Y, and Z; these are not materials commonly found in this area and the fact that it is sitting in this study near the shards of glass around the broken window suggests it was probably launched through it, causing the break.") and simple observation ("Hey, a rock. Hey, a broken window.").
Naturally, a decline in this higher-level thinking leads to decreases in innovation, capability to cope with difficult life situations, and an inability to develop competence in fields in which normal humans are clearly capable of developing competence (Else how could the fields have gotten as far as they have?). We can see these effects plainly.
The economy of Hong Kong is based largely on rent and distribution, not development and innovation. As a result, there is a huge wealth gap between the elite inheritors (yes, inheritors) of financial empires and the average fellow on the street, some of which are even forced to live in cage-dwellings (for info, a simple Google search brings a bounty of information: Hong Kong Wealth Gap). A good deal of this imbalance can be attributed to a refusal to critically examine the consequences of this rent-based economy by those who possess sufficient power and/or influence to do something about it. Their opinion? If it ain't broke (for us), we won't fix it.
Another issue is that a lack of stimulation or support often leads people down a dark path of psychological development, often running the road of depression into either suicide or an utterly unsatisfactory life. Studies on orphans have been a recurring theme in the history of psychological research, especially those kept in orphanages that did little to encourage the cognitive activity of their inmates. Google the Romanian Orphan Study, a now-infamous event in our world's history: following the fall of the Soviet Union, it was discovered that many Romanian orphans had been left neglected and, as a result, showed poor psychological development, unable to perform some basic life skills, and definitely not emotionally-developed. You know how your brain is full of wrinkles? Their brains were comparably smooth.
Then comes what I call the "I can't do it" generation. Doubtless, throughout history we have found ourselves in a world of people who denied that they could perform certain tasks because they were "too hard"; we may have even made that call ourselves at some point. The problem is that, in this era of standardized testing and teaching to said tests, U.S. public schools have been churning out students with a lack of critical-thinking ability, let alone a desire to think critically. I often find myself pondering over poorly-worded undergraduate responses to philosophy questions and wondering if mine were so bad when I was starting out. I check back and, as my own toughest critic, I can thankfully say, "No." Of course, that thanks also comes with some dread: If these are the philosophers of tomorrow, is our field doomed? What about other fields, like medicine and law? It makes one seriously consider alternative schooling. Check out the Wikipedia article on the supportive research for home schooling for some interesting information (of course, you should also check out the criticism of the supportive research to keep it fair and balanced).
All of these factors contribute to the terrible metamorphosis of people into "sheeple". This unnerving term refers to those who are unreflective, who refuse to employ higher-level thinking and defer wholly to the pre-processed responses given unto them to say on behalf of some propaganda machine (think of politics in the US). They are led along by some person or tagline that they will follow whenever and wherever. All of their decisions are already made for them; there is no higher-level thinking to be done, so just kick back, open a beer, and watch the big game. It sounds relaxing, right? So did soma.
What we are seeing from this drastic down-turn in critical thinking is a decrease in diversity of personal opinion, which leads to complacence with a system that may be harmful, which can ultimately lead to destruction not only for ourselves but for all of those we care about or may come to care about at some future date. If we do not begin to think, to really think, about ourselves, about others, and about all of the world around us, then we are quite probably dooming ourselves to a horrible fate that I cannot possibly begin to describe here.
Let me do away with this fire and brimstone for a moment, though, and return to a simpler matter at hand, and that is that people need to think to hang onto their opinions. Why? That is because your opinions are your world-views; they are how you understand and get along in the world to begin with. If someone takes away your opinions, they may as well be taking away your life, because they are certainly voiding you of your personality. Not really your life then, is it? A big part of this is that we have to start thinking, and we have to start thinking specifically about what we perceive to be the hard questions. That means we have to start examining our world, our institutions, and the subjects we are taught in school. That means we need to motivate ourselves to learn (and if the reasons I have given are not motivation, then I wonder what will motivate a person to learn) and we need to start making the connections between the many things we learn. That means not just learning that "2+2=4", but why that is the case and how to do addition in general. All that it requires is for you to stop and think. Really, it is not too hard.
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