#122: Brandolini's Law, Indifference to Truth & the Baloney Detection Kit
3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Detecting Baloney
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I. Brandolini's Law
Brandolini's Law, also known as the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle, states a fact we all know:
It takes a lot more energy to refute bullshit than to produce it. Hence, the world is full of unrefuted bullshit.
Surprisingly, it was as late as 2013 that Italian programmer Alberto Brandolini formulated the adage. It’s never been easier to produce convincing bullshit, too. A while back, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article about AI-generated ideas. Using OpenAI, it took me only a few seconds to write a few paragraphs about the famous Bed of Aristotle. It’ll take you considerably longer to refute it as nonsense.
II. Indifference to Truth
An essential characteristic of bullshitting is indifference to truth. Scientifically speaking, that distinguishes it from lying. Psychology professor John V. Petrocelli explains the difference in detail:
The only way to determine if the used-car dealer was bullshitting or lying to you is to discover his level of concern with the truth. It isn’t the content of a claim that determines its status as a lie or bullshit, but rather what the used-car dealer actually knows about the truth and his degree of concern about it. If the dealer knew the truth, but communicated something other than the truth, then he lied to you, but if he didn’t care at all about the truth, he was bullshitting.
―John V. Petrocelli, The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit
III. Baloney Detection Kit
The Baloney Detection Kit is a set of cognitive tools developed by science communicator Carl Sagan in his book The Demon-Haunted World. With the kit, Sagan aimed to help people critically evaluate and analyse claims and arguments. The pillars of his toolbox include:
sceptical thinking
open debate
a healthy mistrust in arguments from authority and
the consideration of multiple hypotheses.
Sagan also lists common logical fallacies; errors in reasoning we should avoid so we don’t produce baloney ourselves. For the full list, check out my latest article on the Baloney Detection Kit. 🐘
Have a great week,
Chris
themindcollection.com