[Informatics] Logical fallacies and other bad stuff when evaluating secondary information

Tue Mar 22 17:20:22 AEDT 2016

http://www.leany.com/logic/Adams.html
The Dilbert variant (in handy printable form)
You Are Wrong Because:

For your convenience, I have circled the brain malfunction(s) that most
closely resemble(s) the one(s) you recently made on the topic of (fill in
topic):

------------------------------

*1. AMAZINGLY BAD ANALOGY*Example: You can train a dog to fetch a stick.
Therefore, you can train a potato to dance.

*2. FAULTY CAUSE AND EFFECT*Example: On the basis of my observations,
wearing huge pants makes you fat.

*3. I AM THE WORLD *Example: I don’t listen to country music. Therefore,
country music is not popular.

*4. IGNORING EVERYTHING SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT THE BRAIN*Example: People
choose to be obese/gay/alcoholic because they prefer the lifestyle.

*5. THE FEW ARE THE SAME AS THE WHOLE*Example: Some Elbonians are animal
rights activists. Some Elbonians wear fur coats. Therefore, Elbonians are
hypocrites.

*6. GENERALIZING FROM SELF*Example: I’m a liar. Therefore, I don’t believe
what you’re saying.

*7. ARGUMENT BY BIZARRE DEFINITION *Example: He’s not a criminal. He just
does things that are against the law.

*8. TOTAL LOGICAL DISCONNECT*Example: I enjoy pasta because my house is
made of bricks.

*9. JUDGING THINGS WITHOUT COMPARISON TO ALTERNATIVES*Example: I don’t
invest in U.S. Treasury bills. There’s too much risk.

*10. ANYTHING YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IS EASY TO DO*
ExampIe: If you have the right tools, how hard could it be to generate
nuclear fission at home?

*11. IGNORANCE OF STATISTICS*Example: I’m putting ALL of my money on the
lottery this week because the jackpot is so big.

*12. IGNORING THE DOWNSIDE RISK*Example: I know that bungee jumping could
kill me, but it’s three seconds of great fun!

*13. SUBSTITUTING FAMOUS QUOTES FOR COMMON SENSE*Example: Remember, “All
things come to those who wait.” So don’t bother looking for a job.

*14. IRRELEVANT COMPARISONS*Example: A hundred dollars is a good price for
a toaster, compared to buying a Ferrari.

*15. CIRCULAR REASONING*Example: I’m correct because I’m smarter than you.
And I must be smarter than you because I’m correct.

*16. INCOMPLETENESS AS PROOF OF DEFECT*Example: Your theory of gravity
doesn’t address the question of why there are no unicorns, so it must be
wrong.

*17. IGNORING THE ADVICE OF EXPERTS WITHOUT A GOOD REASON*Example: Sure,
the experts think you shouldn’t ride a bicycle into the eye of a hurricane,
but I have my own theory.

*18. FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF KNOWN IDIOTS*Example: Uncle Billy says pork
makes you smarter. That’s good enough for me!

*19. REACHING BIZARRE CONCLUSIONS WITHOUT ANY INFORMATION*Example: The car
won’t start. I’m certain the spark plugs have been stolen by rogue clowns.

*20. FAULTY PATTERN RECOGNITION*Example: His lust six wives were murdered
mysteriously. I hope to be wife number seven.

*21. FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE WHAT’S IMPORTANT*Example: My house is on fire!
Quick, call the post office and tell them to hold my mail!

*22. UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT OF SUNK COSTS*Example: We’ve spent millions
developing a water-powered pogo stick. We can’t stop investing now or it
will all be wasted.

*23. OVERAPPLICATION OF OCCAM’S RAZOR (WHICH SAYS THE SIMPLEST EXPLANATION
IS USUALLY RIGHT)*Example: The simplest explanation for the moon landings
is that they were hoaxes.

*24. IGNORING ALL ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE*Example: I always get hives
immediately after eating strawberries. But without a scientifically
controlled experiment, it’s not reliable data. So I continue to eat
strawberries every day, since I can’t tell if they cause hives.

*25. INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THAT SOME THINGS HAVE MULTIPLE CAUSES*Example:
The Beatles were popular for one reason only: They were good singers.

*26. JUDGING THE WHOLE BY ONE OF ITS CHARACTERISTICS*Example: The sun
causes sunburns. Therefore, the planet would be better off without the sun.

*27. BLINDING FLASHES OF THE OBVIOUS*Example: If everyone had more money,
we could eliminate poverty.

*28. BLAMING THE TOOL*Example: I bought an encyclopedia but I’m still
stupid. This encyclopedia must be defective.

*29. HALLUCINATIONS OF REALITY*Example: I got my facts from a talking tree.

*30. TAKING THINGS TO THEIR ILLOGICAL CONCLUSION*ExampIe: If you let your
barber cut your hair, the next thing you know he’ll be lopping off your
limbs!

*31. FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND WHY RULES DON’T HAVE EXCEPTIONS*Example: It
should be legal to shoplift, as long as you don’t take enough to hurt the
company’s earnings.

*32. PROOF BY LACK OF EVIDENCE*Example: I’ve never seen you drunk, so you
must be one of those Amish people.

*From: The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense
of Your Co-workers. By Scott Adams*

On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 4:48 PM, Laurie Savage <08327998 at pvgc.vic.edu.au>
wrote:

> Of course it's well known that brain cancer causes mobile phone demand.
>
> http://xkcd.com/925/
>
> Laurie
>
>
> On 22 Mar 2016, at 4:16 PM, Mark <mark at vceit.com> wrote:
>
> Hi fellow fallacious folk
>
> During your kids' incursion into hypothesis formulation and evaluation of
> secondary sources, there are some logical fallacies and bad practices
> you might want to point to.
>
> - Causation - If A and B are correlated it does not mean A causes B.
> Or B might cause A.
> Or A might cause B while B also causes A in a feedback loop.
> Or both A and B might be caused by unknown factor C.
> Or similarities between the trends in A and B may be purely coincidental.
>
> - Just because A happens before B does not mean A causes B. This is a
> particularly dangerous fallacy, e.g. immunization causes autism; a
> cancer sufferer drank green tea and had complete remission, therefore green
> tea cure cancer.
>
> - Confusion of cause and effect - "He's unmarried because he's so angry"
> vs "He's so angry because he's unmarried".
>
> - A series of random events (e.g. coin tosses) that show a pattern are not
> actually causally linked.
>
> - Cherry picking - selecting only the data that supports a hypothesis.
>
> - Ignoring extraneous variables - Assuming that only one possible cause
> exists when in fact others are possible.
>
> - Ad hominem - attacking the person on irrelevant personal grounds rather
> than attacking his or her argument. e.g. "Could you believe a tattooed
> and pierced freak like him could ever be a serious member of parliament?"
>
> - Using loaded questions - questions that have inbuilt assumptions, e.g.
> "Considering the growing rates of autism, would you have your
> child immunized?"
>
> - Using leading questions - that contain information that suggests the
> desired answer. e.g. "As a responsible parent, would you risk immunizing
> your child?"
>
> - Double-barrelled questions - which lead to ambiguous results by
> combining two separate variables, e.g. "Do you agree with child
> immunization and circumcision? Yes/No."
>
> - Questions that force some people into giving inaccurate answers, e.g.
> "Do you go to church daily / weekly / occasionally." The options
> are incomplete.
>
> - Vague, ambiguous or subjective questions - that may be interpreted
> differently by different people. e.g. "Are men superior to women?" (in
> what respects?) or "Do you swear often?" (what does "often" mean?)
>
> - Begging the question - assuming the truth of an issue that is in
> question. e.g. "But he's a gentle, law-abiding man! How could he possibly
> be guilty of this horrific massacre?"  (It annoys me mightily when people
> say this when they actually mean "raises the question". e.g. "He said he
> was a lazy man, which begs [raises] the question of how he achieved so
> much.")
>
> - Over-generalisation - extrapolating from small number of observations to
> formulate a rule, e.g. "The Collingwood fans I saw at the pub after
> the match were rowdy, annoying, drunken idiots. I hope my daughter never
> has to live in Collingwood."
>
> - Misusing anecdotal evidence - single or personal examples do not
> over-ride large masses of contrary evidence. e.g. "Feisty Edith is still
> full of vim and vigour at the ripe old age of 100 and she still smokes a
> cigar every day! Smoking obviously can't be too dangerous, can it? Ha ha
> ha. Over to you for tips on how to cook kale and quinoa pizzas, Sandra. Ha
> ha ha."
>
> - Appeal to emotion - side-stepping logic by using emotionally-charged
> claims. e.g. "You shouldn't immunize your child. Think of the tragic
> and devastating life-long effects this can have."
>
> - Appeal to pity or fear - e.g. "An immunized child, stricken with autism,
> doomed to live a life of pain and suffering and <insert horrors here>. How
> can you let this happen?"
>
> - Unproven compromises - a weak attempt to play it safe by pleasing
> everyone a little bit. e.g. "Some people believe that immunizations cause
> autism. Some believe they don't. Let's just say than
> that some immunizations cause autism, OK?"
>
> - Burden of proof - avoiding giving substantiating evidence by challenging
> the opponent to prove otherwise. e.g. "I am sure immunization
> causes autism. Show me one piece of evidence that I'm wrong."
>
> - Appeal to ignorance - assuming that something must be true (or false)
> just because it has not
> been proven false (or true). e.g. "Ghosts exist. No-one has proven they
> don't!" (this is similar to  'burden of proof' above)
>
> - Wrongful dismissal - reasoning that because an argument was poorly
> presented or had spelling mistakes, then it must be wrong. This is
> common amongst Spelling Stormtroopers on forums, e.g. "You can't even spell
> 'their' properly. How can we believe you when you say rubbish like 'Jon
> Snow is going to come back from the dead in season 6?' ROFL. Buy a
> dictionary, Hodor."
>
> - Appeal to tradition - arguing that an idea must be wrong because "We've
> never been done it that way" . Or saying that an idea is right because
> it's commonly practised. "Hundreds of lobotomies are performed every day,
> Mrs Smith. I really don't know what you're so worried about."
>
> - Sheer ignorance - belief that a hypothesis must be wrong because one is
> too ignorant to understand it. "How can disease be caused by tiny
> germ things? Things can't be so small you can't see them? It's ridiculous."
>
> - Appeal to vanity - e.g. "Any intelligent reader will know that..."
>
> - Reductio ad absurdum - exaggerating an opponent's argument to ridiculous
> extremes so it can be mocked. e.g. "These anti-immunization people say that
> the MMR vaccine causes autism. Next they'll be saying that aspirin causes
> your legs to fall off! How can you trust anything they say?"
>
> - Appeal to novelty - assuming that something is better because it's new.
> e.g.
> "Windows Vista / 4K video / Microsoft Clippy / internet-connected fridges
> /
> voice recognition replacing the keyboard / the hydrogen-filled airship /
> The Atkins Diet" is new! Buy it now."
>
> Bye
>
> Mark
>
> ---
>
> Thanks to https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/poster for some tasty input.
> Also
> http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-fallacies/
>
> By the way. The immunization/autism example I've used is just an example.
> But if you're morally outraged, please read this -
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23545349
> Do not email me about it. I validate and reject invalid input.
>
> --
>
> Mark Kelly
>
> mark at vceit.com
> http://vceit.com
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> Teachers Association Inc <br>
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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
> VCE Informatics Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/itapplications3-4.html -
> Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority <br>
> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
> Teachers Association Inc <br>
> http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/schools - Swinburne University
>

-- 
-- 
Dr Ken Price MACS CP ACCE Professional Associate.
President, TASITE http://www.tasite.tas.edu.au
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