Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Context dependence, nuance, multiple contributing factors, and indirect effects

Anytime I look at what's going around on social media or popular media I end up cringing at the sort of black and white oversimplification of reality that it seems like 99% of us are guilty of 99% of the time. We always want yes or no answers, and good or bad classifications. However, in the real world the answer is usually "it's complicated," and good or bad is a matter of context and degree. 

Scoundrels seem to have become adept at using oversimplification to hide complicated, damning truths. Scoundrels are versatile, though. They are also adept at hiding simple truths by obfuscating with complexity. 

Be careful out there. 



Alternate version of the slide: