Page updated 06/04/2021 Last updated 19/12/2020

I discovered there are some impediments to thinking, discussing and learning in humans. A lot of this has been described as Bias but I think that is different to what I am trying to discover here. Discussions between people are important – they help progress thinking and learning and can correct bias and mistakes. I have identified elements of what I call Corruption – which can contribute to communication problems which I model in detail in my articles.

There are many reasons people will try to stop a discussion. I am trying to investigate and organize what those reasons and techniques are.

One of the things I have observed about humans is there are some topics or ideas which are so deep that even talking about them is difficult. Many humans recognize that they are deeply connected to an emotional trigger point which they know their rational mind will not be able to control. They know that if that idea is discussed that they will not be able to control their feelings. I hypothesize that a very low level or foundation idea is going to be the most difficult to examine and that there is a real fear about the amount of work that needs to be redone to all the ideas in the brain to make sense of everything again. Even thinking about thinking about it can strike real stress into a human.

Accusation Fear or malevolence (Feelings Corruption)
Binary – we have two choices yours or mine Complex things are best redeuced to my prefferred choice and evil encarnate (Binary Complexity)
Cognitive Bias Shortcuts, Lazy, Less energy, Confirm existing beliefs, self centered (Capacity Lazy) https://www.visualcapitalist.com/24-cognitive-biases-warping-reality/
Delay, Timing, Length of Time No intention of dealing with issue – hoping after time no-one will remember or notice (Justice Delayed is Justice Denied) – Magna Carta (Avoidance Corruption) https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/2672/Concise_MagnaCarta.pdf https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/senate/pubs/pops/pop39/lairg.pdf
Deliberate Misrepresentation Fear or malevolence (Feelings Corruption)
Games Falling victim to one of the games people play ChangingMinds.org (Insincerity Game) http://changingminds.org/explanations/behaviors/games/games.htm
Hypocrisy Disregrad for consistency, coherence, logic – pleading special circumstances (Superiority Personal)
I am not afraid of anything – I will do all it takes no matter who around me suffers – I will push the Big Red Button for my Cause – Save the Planet, Save the World, Save the Universe itself – My decision is FINAL World virus lockdown mentalities 2020 – Corruption – disabled, incapacitated, ignorance, virtue-signaler, Bad Actor – aggressive – the ULTIMATE UPTOPIAN END justifies the means (Avoidance Corruption)
Let’s Agree to Disagree I cannot continue. I don’t want to find the points of diffrence between us. I don’t understand anything you have said. (Ignorance Capacity)
Moral Superiority Personal attack – claim superior virtue, intelligence or personal characteristics – positioning (Superiority Positioning)
Pareto – Residues and Derivations Motivations and Feelings Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (Feelings Capacity) https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Vilfredo_Pareto https://journals.openedition.org/ress/730 https://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/pareto.htm
Personal Attack Fear or malevolence (Feelings Corruption)
The Mob, United, Will Never be Defeated Mobthink – no individual responsibility or accountability – passive aggressiona and violent threats (Feelings Capacity)
Virtue Signalling Distraction – avoidance of the issue based on personal superiority – I am the best person to decide (Superiority Personal)
Begging The Question Answer this question that I frame for you with Yes/No – Circular (Circular Logic)
Blind Spot/ Cognitive Bias Cognition, Bias, Ignorance, Awareness, Education – know your biases Buster Benson (Ignorance Cognition) http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/cognitive-bias-infographic.html
Catch-22 Circular Joseph Heller (Circular Logic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22
Epistemological infinitism Language, definitions and catagorization – re-framing to suit the argument – usually trying to avoid hypocrisy (Circular Epistemology)
Fallacy Bias, Ignorance, lack of logic, fear (Human Thinking) https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ https://www.logicallyfallacious.com
Fallacy Fallacial arguments ChangingMinds.org (Ignorance Capacity) http://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/fallacies/fallacies_alpha.htm
Irrationality No basic agreed framework of logic and progression of thought (Framewook Logic)
Problem Of Induction “All Swans are white” (until I see a black one) – Logic & Reasoning (Ignorance Epistemology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
Sophistry Fallacial arguments Aristotle (Ignorance Capacity) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophistical_Refutations https://iep.utm.edu/sophists/
Apathy, Complacency, Acedia, Sloth Someone else’s problem, learned complacency, fat, dumb and lazy, contempt (Indifference Disinterest) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_(deadly_sin)
I’m uncomfortable Its too uncomfortable, I cannot control my feelings (Feelings Capacity)
Indifference Don’t care – disinterested (Indifference Disinterest)
Let us talk about it later I am not ready for this discussion , I need to do more or I don’t want to talk (Delay Capacity)
There’s not enough meaning I cannot make sense of this information – Ignorance, Capability (Capability Information) https://realkm.com/2017/04/07/simplified-cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet/
There’s not enough memory Energy required to process this is too much – Complexity (Capacity Information) https://realkm.com/2017/04/07/simplified-cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet/
There’s not enough time and resources Energy required to process this is too much – Complexity, Disinterest (Capacity Information) https://realkm.com/2017/04/07/simplified-cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet/
There’s too much information I cannot process this information – Capacity (Capacity Information) https://realkm.com/2017/04/07/simplified-cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet/
We Dont NEED to talk about that Its too uncomfortable, I cannot control my feelings (Feelings Cabability)
X knows I don’t know anything more, I cannot continue. Superior one knows. (Higher Authority Epistemology)
Do my thing – Quickly We have to do something – Assumed – So lets do my thing – Do you have a better idea? (Urgency Binary)
Have You got a Better Idea? Relative positioning (Urgency Action)
I have a right to my opinion I don’t know anything more, I cannot continue. I may not know the method of discussion (Ignorance )
We need to Act Fast Urgency, Limited Choices, Limited Time, overcome choice avoidance – bias to speed and my ideas. (Urgency Action) https://www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/1557-cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet
10 Golden Rules of Argument Shane Parrish (Authenticity Personal) https://fs.blog/2014/10/the-ten-golden-rules-of-argument/
Bad Arguments Strawman, Hollowman, Shane Parrish (Authenticity Personal) https://fs.blog/2020/05/bad-arguments/
Body Language Physical human movements designed to influence others – nodding heads, stroking, pleading, anger, sadness, tears, guilt, blame, shame, (Superiority Personal)
How to Win an Argument – Dos, Don’ts and Sneaky Tactics Paul Sloane (Authenticity Personal) https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-to-win-arguments-dos-donts-and-sneaky-tactics.html https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797612464058
How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie (Techniques Habits) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People https://www.booksfree.org/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-by-dale-carnegie-pdf/
Joke Can be insight but can also be distraction (Distraction )
My human failures are not as bad as your human failures Relative positioning (Superiority Personal)
Quoting References Other people think, lots of other people think, appealing to the masses (Higher Authority Epistemology)
Surely .., Clearly .., You must agree …, Everyone knows … The obviously agreed assumption underpinning their argument Daniel Dennett (Ignorance Epistemology)
The Art of Winning an Argument Shane Parrish (Authenticity Personal) https://fs.blog/2014/06/winning-an-argument/ https://cogdevlab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/rozenblit%20%26%20keil%20%202002.pdf