Baloney Detection Kit

A good read and hilarious too..

Quote:

---

The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:

• Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts
• Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
• Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities").
• Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
• Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.
• Quantify, wherever possible.
• If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.
• "Occam's razor" - if there are two hypothesis that explain the data equally well choose the simpler.
• Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result?

---

Read more about this: Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit

I thought this might be helpfull as a couter-social-engineering technique..

That's great stuff The_Jinx :D For the layman, I have another version of the above, and this may be helpful for people dating. I have run into many bullshitters in my day.

How To Know And Spot A Bullshitter

1. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

2. Watch for the hand going to the mouth when somebody talks.

3. Bullshitters usually are very defensive and do not like to be questioned.

4. A bullshitter talks a lot and uses your emotions to distract you.

5. If you suspect a bullshitter, there is nothing wrong with asking around to verify the suspected bullshitter's claims and reputation.

6. Your first instinct is usually right.

7. A bullshitter can lie looking at you directly in the eye.

8. Bullshitters are rampant on the Internet. Protect yourself.

Thank you for your time.

albn