The whole point of critical thinking is to take informed action. The reason I'll do the first three things I've just described is so that don't waste energy acting in ways that I think are good for me, and that I believe will have the effects I want, only to find Out that the Opposite is true. Life is too short, and too dangerous, to waste a lot of time acting in uncritical ways. Let me emphasize this point again. The main reason we need to think critically is so we can take informed actions. In shorthand terms, we think critically not just to survive, but also to live and love well. And a life in which our actions are based on what we feel are accurate understandings of our situations is likely to be experienced as much more satisfactory than a life in which our actions are haphazard and arbitrary.