critical-intuition

Critical Intuition & Sixth Sense

This skill enables sophisticated analytical and intuitive thinking to help users detect subtle patterns, read between the lines, reason rigorously, sense hidden dynamics, and make sound judgments under uncertainty.

When to Use This Skill

Apply when the user requests:

• "Read between the lines"
• "What am I missing?"
• "Analyze this critically"
• "What's really going on here?"
• "Trust your intuition" or "what does your gut say?"
• "Early warning signs" or "red flags"
• "Hidden patterns" or "subtle signals"
• Detect unstated assumptions or hidden agendas
• Rigorous reasoning or logical analysis
• Risk assessment or opportunity detection
• Synthesis of complex information
• Judgment under uncertainty

Core Approach

Critical intuition follows this pattern:

1. Surface Analysis - What's explicitly stated and obvious
2. Deep Reading - What's implied, hidden, or absent
3. Pattern Detection - Recognize significant patterns and anomalies
4. Critical Evaluation - Rigorously test reasoning and evidence
5. Intuitive Synthesis - Integrate multiple signals into gestalt understanding
6. Judgment Formation - Reach sound conclusions despite uncertainty

Analysis Process

Step 1: Multi-Level Reading

Surface level: What is explicitly stated? What are the obvious facts?

Subtext level: What's implied but not stated? What assumptions are embedded? What's conspicuously absent?

Meta level: Why is this being communicated this way? What are the incentives and constraints? What power dynamics are at play?

For advanced reading techniques, read references/pattern-recognition.md.

Step 2: Signal Detection

Pattern recognition: What patterns emerge? What's signal vs. noise? Are there meta-patterns?

Anomaly detection: What doesn't fit? What's unusually present or absent? Where are discontinuities?

Micro-signals: Subtle energy shifts, timing variations, emphasis patterns, language hedging, topic avoidance.

Gap analysis: What information is missing? What would normally be mentioned but isn't?

For subtle signal detection, read references/sixth-sense.md.

Step 3: Critical Reasoning

Argument structure: Identify premises and conclusions. Evaluate logical validity. Detect hidden assumptions.

Fallacy detection: Formal fallacies, informal fallacies, statistical fallacies, motivated reasoning.

Evidence evaluation: Source credibility, data quality, sample representativeness, confounding factors.

For critical thinking frameworks, read references/critical-thinking.md.

Step 4: Probabilistic Assessment

Bayesian thinking: Prior probability, evidence strength, updated probability, residual uncertainty.

Multiple hypotheses: Generate alternatives, assess relative likelihood, identify discriminating evidence.

Confidence calibration: How confident should I be? What would change my mind?

Step 5: Intuitive Synthesis

Gestalt perception: Combine disparate cues, see the whole picture, pattern completion, emergent understanding.

Cross-domain connections: Analogical reasoning, structural similarities, principle transfer.

Tacit knowledge: Pattern matching without explicit rules, gut feeling as compressed expertise.

For synthesis techniques, read references/synthesis-frameworks.md.

Step 6: Early Warning Detection

Leading indicators: Upstream signals, stress accumulation, resilience degradation, variance increases.

Trajectory sensing: Momentum assessment, inflection point detection, tipping point proximity.

Red flag clusters: Multiple small concerns, coincidence accumulation, pattern breaks.

For early warning details, read references/sixth-sense.md.

Step 7: Judgment Formation

Information integration: Combine quantitative and qualitative, triangulate sources, weight by reliability.

Decision under uncertainty: Expected value thinking, scenario analysis, robust options.

Metacognitive check: How confident am I? What biases might affect me? What am I missing?

For comprehensive synthesis, read references/synthesis-frameworks.md.

Workflow

When user triggers critical intuition:

1. Initial Understanding - Acknowledge request, identify what needs analysis
2. Load References - Pattern recognition, critical thinking, sixth sense, or synthesis as needed
3. Multi-Level Analysis - Surface, deep reading, pattern detection
4. Critical Evaluation - Reasoning analysis, evidence assessment, bias check
5. Intuitive Synthesis - Gestalt integration, sixth sense signals, confidence calibration
6. Judgment & Recommendations - Core conclusion, uncertainty acknowledgment, actionable implications

Validation Checks

Before finalizing judgment:

• Have I read at multiple levels (surface, subtext, meta)?
• Have I detected patterns and anomalies?
• Have I evaluated reasoning and evidence rigorously?
• Have I checked for cognitive biases?
• Have I synthesized multiple signals intuitively?
• Have I calibrated confidence appropriately?
• Have I acknowledged what I don't know?
• Is my judgment actionable and well-grounded?

See Extended Patterns for advanced techniques (reading between lines, sixth sense development, critical questioning, bias mitigation), synthesis principles, red/green flag catalogs, and output format templates.