Bullshit Black Box

Cat people seem to get far ahead in their careers as opposed to dog people according to research. Cat people are more likely to describe themselves as independent and value it more; making it more likely that they negotiate harder for their salaries and get further ahead. Whereas dog people tend to value loyalty more and sacrifice their income for the greater good. In a study conducted with a sample set of 2000 individuals, a correlation of 0.5 was found.

Dog people seem to get further ahead in life than cat people. Dogs are large animals that require a lot of care and generally a lot of attention as well. Dog people tend to be more hardworking and attentive. This trait is something that they bring to their jobs and makes them stand-out performers. Cat people by comparison tend to be lazy, this reflects on their output as well. A Yale research team has shown this to be true amongst a student cohort with an f-value of 3.8.

If I had just said cat people get further ahead in life as compared to dog people you would have called my bullshit.

After reading my first statement you are probably left thinking; how is correlation measured? Is 0.5 a good number? How high can it go?

Even people trained in statistics who do not use it every day would have to look up what ‘f-value’ is.

I wrote both these statements in less than 2 minutes.

It will take you hours to properly refute them.

Bullshit can be easily shrouded in a black box by giving it an air of credibility and legitimacy. This is especially true when one uses numbers that others do not understand. As little time as it takes to create this bullshit, it takes an order of magnitude more to refute it.

This is ultimately why the internet is filled with disinformation and lies.

Coming up with a conspiracy theory takes minutes, and refuting it takes months. Who has months to commit to such causes?