Re:AI and Robots Are a Minefield of Cognitive Biases
by mattcwilson on Wednesday July 21, 2021 @08:41AM
(#27905477)
I think your given example could benefit from spelling it out further.
Let’s say that I read "Rinsing your recycling (in water heated by electricity generated by coal) generates more carbon than the recycling saves", investigate it, and convlude it’s true.
What is the additional truth that statement is making me think the opposite of? I lost you there.
Re:AI and Robots Are a Minefield of Cognitive Biases
by ZeroGravitas on Wednesday July 21, 2021 @08:46AM
(#27905520)
That multiple, independant, well-regarded and thorough lifecycle analyses of recycling have consistently shown it to be both financially and environmentally (including but not limited to carbon output specifically) beneficial.
edit: I removed a "not" to clear up the ambiguous double-negative. Summary, my position is that science says recycling is a good thing. Numerous media stories will focus relentlessly on any small flaw in it, either to get a reaction from the people who do it and think it's a good thing, or support the people who fight against it for political reasons as it represents (like global warming) a massive failure of free markets.
I remember Microsoft introducing an early AI in a game and they made it a young boy. This seemed like an artful/deceptive attempt to take advantage of human biases to make it seem more inpressive than it was.
Which is fine, up to a point, for showbiz, but probably not ideal for wider applications.
I'm not sure if this technique has a name but I see it more and more like "<unhealthy thing> has more <good quality> than <healthy thing>". They're not lying but they are taking advantage of human biases to very specifically talk about a minor truth to distract you from the overall truth.
"Rinsing your recycling (in water heated by electricity generated by coal) generates more carbon than the recycling saves". Again true, but carefully crafted to make you think the opposite of the truth.
Notably, no evil, mustache-twirling villain is required for this. The people who make boring, reasonable assertions will be automatically filtered out in favour of the people making wild and sloppy claims that appeal to people's biases and when they get caught out they'll be replaced by another similar person.
But a few villains will intentionally take advantage of it too.