Rearranging cause and effect

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

This is one of the most common logical mistakes, thanks to which you can successfully mislead entire hordes of people who thoughtlessly follow some illusion, and also profit from their stupidity.

The mistake of rearranging cause and effect is usually illustrated with a simple example. “I have a lot of extra money, so I can buy an iPhone” is a correct statement, and “I can buy an iPhone, it means I have a lot of extra money” is a rearrangement of cause and effect, a logical error. This error, and similar ones, will be discussed.

It all starts with a simple and naive reasoning: "tough guys drink and smoke, if I smoke and drink, I'll be cool too." The situation is similar with options like "Mom and Dad are adults, they drink alcohol, so if I drink alcohol, I will become an adult too." It would seem that this is a simple and naive childish logical error, obvious to any adult, but in fact, practice shows that the overwhelming majority of people fall for the same bait, even well aware that if from Ashould B, then it is not at all necessary from Bshould A.

Let's look at examples that will convince you of what has been said. So promotions. When they sell some elite watches or phones, the advertisement may say that successful people have been using watches or phones of this company for a long time. Why does the ad say this? Then, the listener unwittingly believes that if he buys this watch or phone, he will become successful, like those people who have been using all of this for a long time. In fact, he will remain the same person, but without the money that he could spend on something more useful.

Likewise, when high-end alcohol is advertised, look closely at how it is served. As something sophisticated, accessible only to the elite. “Become an elite, buy expensive alcohol, it will improve the quality of your life,” they say from the screen. And people believe in it.

In fact, when a person buys something for himself that is presented as a mark of distinction from the "middle class", he does not cease to be a representative of this class. The inner image of a person and his achievements - yes - determine the insignia, but insignia notcan change achievements and image.

Further down the list are tips and comparisons of people of one type and another. For example, in this popular picture below

Does anyone really think that if you give up the behavior on the right and copy the behavior on the left, you will be successful?

It may seem that I am exaggerating and exaggerating the popularity of such pictures, but let's turn to the reasoning of some people who do not want to learn. They will immediately remember that Einstein was a C grade, but this did not prevent him from receiving the Nobel Prize, that Steve Jobs was expelled, but this did not prevent him from achieving such success that Khrushchev finished only 4 grades, but this did not prevent him from starting the collapse of the whole power and etc.

Each person using such arguments believes that it is he who possesses the same qualities that can help him achieve some difficult goals. Although in fact, such elements of the biography of celebrities are precisely the consequences of a certain character and mentality, thanks to which a certain result is achieved. But no: here or there you constantly see these primitive arguments, everyone considers himself to be the same Einstein or Jobs, having only one common element - threes in school or lack of interest in the university program, unwittingly believing that this is the reason for their success.

Next are the various types of reporting and performance indicators. For example, the citation index of a scientist, determined by the number of citations to his scientific articles or the prestige of the journals in which he is published. There are whole systems of cheating this rating, which are successfully used by some scientists. Why do they do it? It is believed that the rating reflects the amount of a scientist's contribution to science, that is, if the rating is raised, the size of the contribution will also increase. This means that the scientist will receive more money and authority. The same can be said about a university, which measures the efficiency of its work and the quality of education by the number of textbooks, the average grade, etc. (there are many such indicators) This means, in the opinion of university employees, if these indicators are increased, the quality of education will increase. It is strange to see such errors in the logic of reasoning of scientists and university workers.

But that's not all. Sometimes such permutations of cause and effect and logical shifts are closed in a cycle, and in the most simplified form it looks like this:

Such "cycles of uselessness" are a little less than completely part of the way of life of modern people. They are fine knowabout these logical mistakes, they will read this article in something they will agree, maybe they will laugh at the stupidity of people, and then they will buy an iPhone, iPad and go to eat "doshirak" for the change they received. Are you successful people? All successful people have expensive phones.