Artful speech and an ingratiating demeanor rarely accompany virtue. – Confucius
As it turns out, I do find time to return to the thing I love from time to time, which is the examination of virtuous living. In today’s world, our sense of liberty and personal freedom has come under attack from a multitude of directions. These attacks are greatly aided by science, technology, and the knowledge of social engineering.
So how do we know if we are sniffing BS or a finely crafted scotch whiskey made from peated barley? One way to know is the careful observation that some buffoon has their metaphorical butt in your face demanding you change your entire life to acknowledge their fantasy as your reality.
More subtle methods are at work to change your mind without you becoming aware of it. In fact, we all possess bad habits that lead us away from the happy endings we desperately seek.
Below, I have put together an outline of the ways our modern world attacks our sanity and convinces you they are the truth you seek. This outline applies to media reporting, university education, marketing, and your best friend you met yesterday, not to mention everything that your government tells you or doesn’t tell you.
Bad science, data fallacies, and pseudo science haunt us in every aspect of life. Academia and science are the leading purveyors of poop, but foreign states and greed are the true actors extraordinaire. Let the buyer of this foul biodigestive stuff beware.
Bad Science
- Sensationalized headline
- Misinterpreted results
- Conflicts of interest
- Correlation and Causation
- Unsupported conclusions
- Improper sample size (10% of population minimum, 30% recommended)
- Unrepresentative samples used
- No control group used
- No blind testing
- Selective Reporting
- Unrepeatable results (precision, accuracy, repeatability required)
- Material not peer reviewed
Data Fallacies
- Cherry picking- using only data that supports the desired outcome
- Data bridging – mixing different datasets
- Survivorship bias – concentrating on data from a selection process (filtered)
- Cobra effect – a solution results in unintended consequences often from linear thinking.
- False causality – assuming a previous event caused a following event
- Gerry mandering – political manipulation of electoral districts
- Sample bias – the sample does not accurately represent the group under study
- Gambler’s fallacy – the belief that the past is an accurate prediction of the future
- Hawthorne effect – When a subject changes their behavior due to the awareness of being observed.
- Regression fallacy – the assumption that something will return to normal because of a corrective action
- Simpson’s paradox – a statistical phenomenon where an association between two variables in a population emerges, disappears or reverses when the population is divided into subpopulations.
- McNamara’s fallacy – fixating on quantitative data (hard facts) only and ignoring qualitative data (subjective data)`
- Over fitting – when computer modeling is too closely fitted to the training data and cannot make accurate predictions on new data. A common AI problem.
- Publication Bias – failure to publish the results of a study based on the study findings.
- Summary metrics – a shortcut to a subtotal or measurement which does not have the context to explain the measurement.
Pseudo Science
- A study that starts with a conclusion then seeks supporting data
- Hostile to criticism
- Vague jargon to confuse and evade questions
- Grandiose claims beyond any evidence
- Cherry picks only favorable evidence with heavy reliance on testimonials
- Uses flawed methods with unrepeatable results
- Lone person working in isolation
- Uses inconsistent and invalid logic
- Dogmatic and unyielding
Now that you have reviewed this, have you seen examples of these problems in your private or public life, at work, or in topical conversations? Let me know in the comments below.
Hyperion Sky 
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