False Causality

Deriving general rules from specific examples; the leap from instance to concept.

The brain evolved to reason adaptively, not always truthfully, to reduce the cost of errors.

We solve problems by adding, even when subtracting would be better.

Assuming that if one option is true, another must be false, when both can be true.

Presuming a purposeful actor behind events that may have no actor at all.

What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.

Auditors paid by the firms they audit have predictable blind spots.

Inputs combine under conditions to produce new outputs — sometimes irreversibly.

Stress hormone with cognitive and immune-system consequences.

Squeezing all slack from a system optimizes throughput but eliminates resilience.

Federal policy forces homeowners to rebuild doomed structures while waiting on mitigation buyouts.

Systems paid per filled bed have weak incentives to invest in prevention or community health.

When quality is hard to verify, bad products drive out good ones.

Key node of the brain's reward circuit; tracks anticipation of rewards.

We assume our current state will persist into the future.

A 'good' act gives moral permission for a later 'bad' one.

Schools evaluated on test scores teach to the test.

Inattention or forgetfulness caused by low attention, hyperfocus, or distraction.