“Danger, Will Robinson!” was how the Robot would warn young Will Robinson in the original “Lost in Space” TV series. The Robot was my favorite character in the show.
We don’t have Robot around to warn us about every danger. We must train ourselves to see dangers and respond accordingly. Here are things you can learn to recognize:
- Naked Assertions: Claims presented without supporting evidence. These are often phrased to sound authoritative and objective.
- Catastrophism: Dramatic, existential threat, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it language.
- Problem presented with single solution: A problem is described alongside only one possible solution. A common presentation in the 24×7 news-tainment business is the automatic assumption that government or strong central control must be the source of solutions.
- Reductionism: Presenting the complex and multifaceted as one-dimensional, easy to understand and solve. The easiest form to recognize is when someone says, “It’s simple.” Another form is when the words every, all, never, and always are extrapolated to be true of groups of people and complex systems.
- Assuming changing one thing changes nothing else in a system. This shows up frequently in economic and process discussions. All changes produce consequences, and some may not affect you directly and immediately.
I recommend you study biases and system errors, and hope but this starting set will serve as a guardrails for you.
