#epistemology #mental-model #bias #rationality # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought # Confirmation bias >The wrong view of science betrays itself in the **craving to be right**; for it is not his possession of [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Knowledge|knowledge]], of irrefutable [[Truth|truth]], that makes the man of science, but his persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth >~ [[Karl Popper]] I believe that what [[Karl Popper]] means by « positivist dogma » is the confirmation bias, sometimes called positive bias (by [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] for example), where you try to avoid epistemic pain by seeking evidence aligned with your belief. In other words, we tend to seek [[Confirmation|positive samples]] rather than [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Falsifiability|negative ones]], but a single negative sample can destroy a bunch of positive ones. But, negative samples might be more difficult to find, easy choices, hard life, hard choices, easy life. Humans don’t like to be wrong but the [[Ego]] should not be used as [[The criterion of demarcation]], [[Psychologism]] cannot reveal the truth!!!! >**Confirmation bias** was the technical term; it meant, among other things, that when you chose your information sources, there was a notable tendency to choose information sources that agreed with your current opinions ~ [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] >“What you’ve just discovered is called ‘**positive bias**’,” said the boy. “You had a rule in your mind, and you kept on thinking of triplets that should make the rule say ‘Yes’. But you didn’t try to test any triplets that should make the rule say ‘No’. In fact you didn’t get a single ‘No’, so ‘any three numbers’ could have just as easily been the rule. It’s sort of like how people **imagine experiments that could confirm their hypotheses instead of trying to imagine experiments that could falsify them**—that’s not quite exactly the same mistake but it’s close. >~ [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] ## Examples - healthline.com is full of confirmation bias, in [[Health|health]] most people try hard to confirm their beliefs