home.social

#logical-fallacies — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #logical-fallacies, aggregated by home.social.

fetched live
  1. It's easy to attack the boogey man of socialism when you instead attack a straw man of it, at least one commenter noticed that. If you're going to make the USSR a poster child for socialism because it has "socialist" in the name then why not Nazi Germany? #LogicalFallacies #Socialism

    Why Socialism Cannot Work. Eve...

  2. Just FYI folks, confirmation bias is a fallacy to carefully correct against, not something to be proud of.

    #LogicalFallacies #ConfirmationBias

  3. Here is the Youtube w CK demonstrating logical & other fallacies.
    This might help me say what I need to say.
    #logicalfallacies #NotADebate

    m.youtube.com/watch?v=GRLV5Is-

  4. Listen, #bros - about #tech - about #TechBros.

    The #Fediverse is filled to the brim with #besserwissers (or "better knowers"), #CallToAuthority, #AdHominem and other #LogicalFallacies.

    I made it a point to just block these people, because at the end of the day they're not there to help, but to "shellac their roadster", to "wax their own board" so to speak.

    If your idea is to deter others from learning or to be obnoxious: good job. If not? Check your attitude, check your behavior, be better.

  5. “Only after the last tree has been cut down / Only after the last river has been poisoned / Only after the last fish has been caught / Then will you find that money cannot be eaten.” #capitalism #economy #FalsePriorities #LogicalFallacies

    bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly3pn

  6. I just participated in the first W3C Authentic Web Mini Workshop¹ hosted by the Credible Web Community Group² (of which I’m a longtime member) and up front I noted that our very discussion itself needed to be careful about its own credibility, extra critical of any technologies discussed or assertions made, and initially identified two flaws to avoid on a meta level, having seen them occur many times in technical or standards discussions:

    1. Politician’s Syllogism — "Something must be done about this problem. Here is something, let's do it!"

    2. Solutions Looking For Problems — "I am interested in how tech X can solve problem Y"

    After some back and forth and arguments in the Zoom chat, I observed participants questioning speakers of arguments rather than the arguments themselves, so I had to identify a third fallacy to avoid:

    3. Ad Hominem — while obvious examples are name-calling (which is usually against codes of conduct), less obvious examples (witnessed in the meeting) include questioning a speaker’s education (or lack thereof) like what they have or have not read, or would benefit from reading.

    I am blogging these here both as a reminder (should you choose to participate in such discussions), and as a resource to cite in future discussions.

    We need to all develop expertise in recognizing these logical and methodological flaws & fallacies, and call them out when we see them, especially when used against others.

    We need to promptly prune these flawed methods of discussion, so we can focus on actual productive, relevant, and yes, credible discussions.

    #W3C #credweb #credibleWeb #authenticWeb #flaw #fallacy #fallacies #logicalFallacy #logicalFallacies


    Glossary

    Ad Hominem
      attacking an attribute of the person making an argument rather than the argument itself
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

    Politician's syllogism
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician%27s_syllogism

    Solutions Looking For Problems (related: #solutionism, #solutioneering)
      Promoting a technology that either has not identified a real problem for it to solve, or actively pitching a specific technology to any problem that seems related. Wikipedia has no page on this but has two related pages:
      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_instrument
      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_fix
      Wikipedia does have an essay on this specific to Wikipedia:
      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Solutions_looking_for_a_problem
      Stack Exchange has a thread on "solution in search of a problem":
      * https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/250320/a-word-that-means-a-solution-in-search-of-a-problem
      Forbes has an illustrative anecdote:  
      * https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephanieburns/2019/05/28/solution-looking-for-a-problem/


    References

    ¹ https://www.w3.org/events/workshops/2025/authentic-web-workshop/
    ² https://credweb.org/ and https://www.w3.org/community/credibility/


    Previously in 2019 I participated in #MisinfoCon:
    * https://tantek.com/2019/296/t1/london-misinfocon-discuss-spectrum-recency
    * https://tantek.com/2019/296/t2/misinfocon-roundtable-spectrums-misinformation

  7. Today’s word is #Equivocation

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivoca

    “… equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word or expression in multiple senses within an argument.”

    #LogicalFallacies

  8. The #washingtonpost was kind enough to provide a copy of the memo ordering the freeze. I attach screen captures here.

    This memo is a masterclass in #LogicalFallacies, especially #equivocation: using vague, undefined terms with ambiguous meaning, leaving it to the mind of the reader to choose the definition that best suits their personal interpretation. It is a classic trick to fool the audience while providing no grounding for your position.

  9. I’m curious about the term used to describe the tendency of individuals to provide seemingly logical explanations for the actions of those who engage in harmful behavior.

    #CognitiveDissonance #LogicalFallacies #HarmfulBehavior #PsychologyTerms

  10. Goddamn #gotcha bros really out here thinking they're smart. Here's irrefutable evidence to that delusional take.

    Yes, it's just a list of #logicalfallacies , but goddamn if it isn't so totally normal for these people to use them.

    Imbeciles, morons, idiots and complete wankers love these "simple tricks"... because they are also simpletons.

  11. @Radical_EgoCom

    Also, my personal fallacy fave: Whataboutism (tu-quoque)

    "Whataboutism can also be used to relativize criticism of one's own viewpoints or behaviors. ("And what about the starving in Africa and Asia?").

    Whataboutism adds a twist to tu quoque by directing its energies into establishing an equivalence between two or more disparate actions, thereby defaming the accuser with the insinuation that their priorities are backwards."

    sources: Merriam- Webster, Wikipedia

    #fallacies #logicalfallacies

  12. I always enjoy posts like this because I invariably learn something new. There’s some gems in here, some I hadn’t come across before, and some I had.
    There are plenty of logical fallacies and cognitive biases amongst the ideas, which reminds me of this from Buster Benson. I’ve had a large poster of the linked image on the wall of my […]

    https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/04/logical-fallacies-cognitive-biases-and-more/

  13. A reminder that the simplest explanations to observations are not guaranteed to be correct. They're merely more likely to be correct than explanations with more unnecessary variables.

    Sometimes there really is a conspiracy or a complex scheme afoot, or at least the correct explanation is more complex than one might otherwise expect.

    Every now and then when you hear hoofbeats, there are zebras, not horses. But you might still want to check for horses first, especially if you're not on the same continent that provides habitat to zebras.

    The occasional finding of zebras, however, does not indicate that you should always suspect zebras, at least not without checking for horses first.

    It's never lupus... except that one time that it was.

    #occamsRazor #logicalFallacies

  14. The tutorial demands (gently suggests) an #introduction and who am I to not give it one, even though I finished everything and came back to post later.

    I am Terrorskull, clearly, and I am new to
    #calckey. I have been on #Mastodon for about a year but decided I should check out what else the #Fediverse has to offer. For now, at least, this will be my backup account to @[email protected], but I still plan to post here from time to time. The web interface seems significantly better, dare I say... modern!

    So, who am I? I am a
    #DotNet #Developer by profession. I am also a #Gamer and #Skeptic who spends a lot of time consuming various media related to #Science, #CriticalThinking and #LogicalFallacies, and #Tech. When not involved in one of those areas, I am probably doing something #Fitness related or taking care of my special needs #cats.

    This concludes my introduction. Thank you for reading. Feel free to follow me here and/or on my
    @[email protected] account for random musings and sharing/boosts of various science and gaming related information.

    Before I forget, the required cat photo is included, as a cat photo is always required for an introduction.

  15. Logical Fallacies: Examples and Pitfalls in Research and Media

    📚 "In public discourse, research and academic writing, logical fallacies should always be avoided because they invalidate conclusions and arguments. Unfortunately, it is easy to commit such logical fallacies ourselves."

    🌐 research.com/research/logical-

    @edutooters @academicchatter @communicationscholars @stopTDV #VideoGames #GameDev #GameDesign #IndieGame #CriticalThinking #Tech #Programming #EdTech #Gaming #Media #Education #Nonprofit #Knowledge #ScientificThinking #HighSchool #MiddleSchool #LogicalFallacies #Fallacies

  16. @georgetakei
    This is the #SlipperySlope fallacy, writ large. The GOP and their mouthpieces use it masterfully, and they get away with it because tens (hundreds?) of millions in this country have no ability to recognize nor inclination to avoid #LogicalFallacies.