#logicalfallacy — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #logicalfallacy, aggregated by home.social.
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"Quantifiable risk belongs to the casino, the mortality table, and the actuarial ledger. It describes a world where the outcome of an event is unknown, but historical data exists to support a probability estimate. Because the boundaries of the system are fixed, we can use historical data to calculate numerical odds.
Knightian uncertainty, by contrast, considers the unprecedented. It arises when a situation, like climate change, is so novel or complex that history offers no guide. We are pushing the biosphere far outside its Holocene baseline, entering an environment where the variables themselves are changing, and the models used to project future outcomes break down."
Why We're Blind to Civilizational Collapse
by Sarah Connor
July 8th, 2026https://collapse2050.substack.com/p/why-were-blind-to-civilizational
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #CollapseAware #polycrisis #DisasterPreparedness #CognitiveBias #LogicalFallacy #SelectiveUpdating #Sociology #HumanPsychology
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@Tutanota When taking folks’ rights to privacy can’t be justified by any other means, “For the children!” becomes every lawmaker’s trump card. #LogicalFallacy #AppealToEmotion
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If you are still on YouTube and enjoy critical-thinking analysis, it's worth viewing https://www.youtube.com/@FramingLogic
I know there are flaws, but I think it is helpful to be reminded of the logical fallacies, and cognitive biases, and rhetorical approaches that external actors are using against you.
I know I should get better at thinking slowly and analytically about some things. It's almost impossible to recognize my own cognitive biases when I'm thinking fast.
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There are still quite a lot of people who think that whatever an authority, such as the government, says is accepted as true. Argumentum ad verecundiam or appeal to authority. Thankfully I'm not like that, especially since I'm knowledgeable and well educated.
#sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ #authority #authorities #becritical #government #governments #thegovernment #appealtoauthority #logicalfallacy #fallacy #fallacies #itstrue #itistrue #thatstrue #thatistrue #reality #thereality #provemewrong
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First sip is a delightful mixture of citrus and tropical fruits with a mild bitterness ending it off. The weight of the fruits should not be underestimated, as they absolutely fill the mouth
#Beer #Review #LogicalFallacy #SouthernGrist #Tennessee
https://www.bfbcping.com/2025/11/southern-grist-logical-fallacy-west.html -
The Free Speech Fallacy occurs when someone uses the concept of free speech to deflect criticism or avoid accountability for their statements. Learn about this logical fallacy with examples:
https://www.logical-fallacy.com/articles/free-speech/
#logicalfallacy #logic #philosophy #debating #politics -
@AlexanderKingsbury again, you're using the #LogicalFallacy known as an #AdHominem. You're arguing the person, not the merits of the case made. You're trying to use derision and completely ignore context.
You're also misdirecting and picking at straws.
Got anything else, or is it #debatebro on #youtube circa 2007 tactics all the way?
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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 -
The #WashingtonPost opinion columnist Eugene Robinson expresses well the (intended) confusion caused by the #LogicalFallacy called #Equivocation: “Now we know, apparently, that Trump and the MAGA base don’t mean the Tuskegee Airmen when they excoriate DEI. But exactly what do they mean?”
This shows a #CriticalQuestion to ask before believing someone. “What do they mean?”
From: What the Air Force’s Tuskegee Airmen mishap reveals about Trump’s DEI war https://wapo.st/4hazEH7
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"Very important to vote Republican ... to prevent voting fraud." -- Elon Musk
This is the worst kind of relevance fallacy. NEVER infer towards an unknown. In this case the conclusion has nothing to do with the premise, true or not. It's a clever lie told by a clever liar.
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Just a random note:
"Ad Hominem" is a logical fallacy in which they dismiss the argument by addressing the person not the argument.
Ad Hominem is not calling the person a douchebag while addressing the points of the argument.
Ad Hominem is saying those points should be dismissed because they are a douchebag.
It's thrown around (improperly) often by people who want to basically say "you've lost the argument because you're angry" but what to add elitism on top of entitlement.
Easy test: if you can remove all the insults from the argument and it still makes sense, then it's not Ad Hominem.
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Randomly reminded of one of my favorite terms: Schrodinger's Douchebag
Definition: someone who is or is not "joking" depending on whether or not people around them agree with the statement
Related: See Poe's Law
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Judging #research based on who sponsored it is an #Adhominem #logicalfallacy. Yet it seems like not judging it based on who sponsored it is a #fallacyfallacy .
Maybe the best would be to verify and test the ideas in research. But most of us aren't educated enough to even understand them.
How do we solve that without effecting people's #freedom ?
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Oh man...I can already see the claims of companies getting so and so more productive and "streamlining" processes thanks to #AI, while it'll turn out that:
Yes, companies will have gotten more productive.
And no, it's not _directly_ because of AI - it's because employees have inadvertently produced a lot of documentation in the hope of "feeding" the AI, while, by documenting things properly, they'll have actually helped humans doing a better job.
🤦
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Nobody observed the billions of years before humanity existed, therefore it never happened!
#LogicalFallacy for you! :blobcatgiggle2: -
CW: USpol, immigration
1. Help new immigrants in the USA.
2. Help hurricane victims in the USA.We are not forced to choose between doing only one or the other. We have enough to easily do both!
If you see someone stating that you must choose, just reply “False dilemma, 10 yard penalty and loss of down.” They love it when you do that.
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#LogicalFallacy lesson 2
#False_Dilemma or #False_Dichotomy:
If someone presents only two options or outcomes, when in reality there are other options, it is called a false dilemma/dichotomy.Example: "If we don't build more highways, traffic will be unbearable"
• this presents buildings highways as the only solution to traffic, where in reality there are many other factors. -
#LogicalFallacy lesson 1
#Ad_hominem:
When someone attacks the person and their traits instead of addressing the argument, it's known as an Ad Hominem fallacy. This is a #fallacy because attacking the person does not discredit or invalidate their argument.Example: "Your takes on the dangers of monopolies is invalid because you're a socialist"
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(Edited for clarity) When you listen to the average person justifying their beliefs it is terrifying.
#reason #reasoning #thinking #cognitivefallacies #thinkingfail #logicalfallacy #inconsistency #inconsistencies
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@darcher @Seilenos “And now I can tell that you only reached this conclusion recently, so there haven't been many changes in government since you did.”
lol Where did you get that wrong idea? Thats the second assumption you’ve made about me. I guess if you can’t attack the argument, attack the person.
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"False Dichotomy": Answers In Reason
https://www.tiktok.com/@answersinreason/video/7175918490019269894
- erm no it's not. this person doesn't know what a dichotomy is let alone a false one.
#Philosophy #Logic #LogicalFallacy #Fallacies #InformalFallacies #FalseDichotomy
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Basing how much you believe #news on the #agenda of those who tells the news is an #AdHominem #LogicalFallacy
