Site of the Day for Friday, December 9, 2011 5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think Today's site, from the irreverent folks at Cracked.com, offers an enlightening interpretation on the shortcomings of the human brain. Gentle Subscribers will discover a snappy rundown of some surprisingly up-to-date scientific findings on the ways rational arguments can be summarily dismissed. "The Internet has introduced a golden age of ill-informed arguments. You can't post a video of an adorable kitten without a raging debate about pet issues spawning in the comment section. These days, everyone is a pundit. But with all those different perspectives on important issues flying around, you'd think we'd be getting smarter and more informed. Unfortunately, the very wiring of our brains ensures that all these lively debates only make us dumber and more narrow-minded. For instance ..." - from the website Written in the site's characteristically breezy prose, this spirited article serves up five concepts that generally are ignored during most discussions. Among these misconceptions are those which can be attributed to a primitive understanding of the laws of probability, a lack of trust in fellow human beings and the fundamental attribution error -- in other words, a double standard with respect to common human failings -- "I'm casual; she's messy; he's a slob". Additional fallacies include the irritating confirmation bias and the implacable argumentative theory of reasoning. Slip over to the site for an animated and entertaining look at ways humans get it wrong at: http://www.cracked.com/article_19468_5-logical-fallacies-that-make-you-wrong-more-th an-you-think.html#ixzz1exuIkKOh If the above URL wraps in your e-mail client, enter it all on one line in your browser or use this TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/d99fga8 A.M. Holm Comments? Suggestions? <amholm@xxxxxxxxxxx> Manage your subscription and view the List archives on the web at: <//www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/webpage?webpage_id=sotd> and <//www.freelists.org/archives/sotd> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSUBSCRIBE by sending a blank email to sotd-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with unsubscribe in the Subject field.