My personal list
1. Be skeptical of everything you read. Always ask yourself the question – Why do I believe this to be true?
2. Consider the source for any data that you use. What assumptions underpin the data collection models? What are the motivations of the group gathering the data in the first place?
3. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation
4. An expert in one field does not make said person an expert in another.
5. Make a concerted effort to distinguish between fact and opinion.
6. Truth is not decided via a popularity vote.
7. An appeal to authority is all too often used as a smokescreen to hide individual shortfalls in understanding.
8. Science is unfortunately not independent of the politics that drives it.
9. Be wary of the Strawman Argument and the use of the Ad Hominem attack.
10. Define your terms before engaging in a debate with another.
11. Most trend relationships in the social sciences are best analyzed using a multi-variable approach
12. Use caution when inferring from the special to the general.
13. Any scientific model is only as good as the validity of the assumptions upon which it is based.
14. Science operates under the drivers of rationalism and empiricism. Problems occur when one of these attributes are missing.
15. Dosage is the key to understanding whether a substance is a toxic. Without dosage information toxicity statements are misleading.
16. There is no such thing as Free Energy.
17. Fact checking organizations should not be taken as gospel.
18. The vast majority of conspiracy related tropes are pure nonsense. Most can be taken apart by a simple application of Ockham’s Razor.
19. Policy that makes one feel good may not be the best plan of action for a specific situation.
20. When analyzing a graph to predict a future trend the errors associated with extrapolation can be extremely large especially if the relationship is non-linear.
21. People are more likely to believe what fits into their established worldview (Confirmation Bias).
22. Read material that forces you to be uncomfortable with your established position.
23. Science is ultimately about the evidence. Any accepted notion is only one fully verified experiment away from being toppled.
24. A gap in knowledge does not imply the presence of a deity in action.
25. Defining a construct and gaining popular support for such a construct does not make a construct valid in and of itself.
26. Not all ideas are equally worthy. Some are a lot better than others.
27. Repeating something over and over again does not make it true.
28. Good people can advocate bad ideas.
29. Science works as in the long run it tends to self-correct. Poor ideas however can persist in the short run based on an appeal to authority.
30. History can repeat itself but it need not.
31. There is no innate direction for both evolution and history.
32. Do not ignore the great thinkers of the past. They may be deceased but their ideas transcend their living essence.
33. Data can always be manicured to make it say what you want it to say.
34. Complexities arising at various levels can hide the factors that exist when analyzing the reduced system.
35. Left and Right political positions are only meaningful if we know and can define the center.
2. Consider the source for any data that you use. What assumptions underpin the data collection models? What are the motivations of the group gathering the data in the first place?
3. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation
4. An expert in one field does not make said person an expert in another.
5. Make a concerted effort to distinguish between fact and opinion.
6. Truth is not decided via a popularity vote.
7. An appeal to authority is all too often used as a smokescreen to hide individual shortfalls in understanding.
8. Science is unfortunately not independent of the politics that drives it.
9. Be wary of the Strawman Argument and the use of the Ad Hominem attack.
10. Define your terms before engaging in a debate with another.
11. Most trend relationships in the social sciences are best analyzed using a multi-variable approach
12. Use caution when inferring from the special to the general.
13. Any scientific model is only as good as the validity of the assumptions upon which it is based.
14. Science operates under the drivers of rationalism and empiricism. Problems occur when one of these attributes are missing.
15. Dosage is the key to understanding whether a substance is a toxic. Without dosage information toxicity statements are misleading.
16. There is no such thing as Free Energy.
17. Fact checking organizations should not be taken as gospel.
18. The vast majority of conspiracy related tropes are pure nonsense. Most can be taken apart by a simple application of Ockham’s Razor.
19. Policy that makes one feel good may not be the best plan of action for a specific situation.
20. When analyzing a graph to predict a future trend the errors associated with extrapolation can be extremely large especially if the relationship is non-linear.
21. People are more likely to believe what fits into their established worldview (Confirmation Bias).
22. Read material that forces you to be uncomfortable with your established position.
23. Science is ultimately about the evidence. Any accepted notion is only one fully verified experiment away from being toppled.
24. A gap in knowledge does not imply the presence of a deity in action.
25. Defining a construct and gaining popular support for such a construct does not make a construct valid in and of itself.
26. Not all ideas are equally worthy. Some are a lot better than others.
27. Repeating something over and over again does not make it true.
28. Good people can advocate bad ideas.
29. Science works as in the long run it tends to self-correct. Poor ideas however can persist in the short run based on an appeal to authority.
30. History can repeat itself but it need not.
31. There is no innate direction for both evolution and history.
32. Do not ignore the great thinkers of the past. They may be deceased but their ideas transcend their living essence.
33. Data can always be manicured to make it say what you want it to say.
34. Complexities arising at various levels can hide the factors that exist when analyzing the reduced system.
35. Left and Right political positions are only meaningful if we know and can define the center.
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