{"id":71843,"date":"2022-07-08T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=71843"},"modified":"2022-07-18T10:34:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T14:34:47","slug":"carl-sagans-baloney-detection-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/carl-sagans-baloney-detection-kit\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit: Check Your Beliefs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s Carl Sagan’s baloney detection kit? How can you use it to get at the truth about science and everything else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists are trained with what Carl Sagan calls a “baloney detection kit.” They’re given tools for critical thinking and healthy skepticism<\/a> that help them cut through the fog in the pursuit of truth. Sagan argues that we all need this kit, whether we’re trying to figure out the truth about the moon landing or an ad’s claim about toothpaste. In The Demon-Haunted World<\/em>, Sagan explains how commercial culture tends to discourage critical thinking, shares three questions that foster healthy skepticism, describes common fallacies, and identifies five fallacious anti-science<\/a> arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn more about Carl Sagan’s baloney detection kit and how it can help you know what’s true and what isn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Carl Sagan says the pervasive commercialism of our modern world and our seemingly unlimited access to information make it much harder to determine what\u2019s true and what\u2019s not. Let\u2019s explore why we\u2019re often taken in by false advertising and then take a look at Carl Sagan’s baloney detection kit, which provides tools to help you evaluate the veracity of a claim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Commercial Culture Discourages Critical Thinking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sagan claims that commercial culture erodes our critical faculties in order to make money. Skepticism, he says, doesn\u2019t sell. Exaggerated headlines and pseudosciences appeal to our emotions, engender more attention, and thus, generate more profits. For this reason, we\u2019re likely to encounter many false or misleading claims through various media (television, radio, newspapers, and online sources): We\u2019re constantly encouraged to buy things without thinking too much about what we\u2019re buying<\/strong> or if the claims about the efficacy of the product are even valid. According to Sagan, even \u201creal scientists\u201d promote products for personal gain at the expense of the consumer and science alike. Commercial culture cultivates a general sense of credulity amongst the population, which is then used to feed you more baloney and extract more of your money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deceptive Advertising<\/a><\/strong>

Sagan was particularly prescient in his discussion of commercial culture. In 2022, deceptive or misleading claims in advertisements are still common. Here are some deceptive ad trends experts are worried about in 2022<\/a>:

Amazon\u2019s liability<\/strong>: A large part of Amazon\u2019s business is marketing and selling third-party products on its platform. Many have filed lawsuits trying to hold Amazon accountable for misleading customers or selling fake products, but these issues still remain.

Life-saving claims<\/strong>: The criteria used for what is considered \u201clife-saving\u201d may differ from one company to the next. For example, Life Alert appears to have a very loose definition of \u201clife-saving\u201d to make it look like it saves more lives than it actually does.

Income claims<\/strong>: As the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry grows, so do claims that people can make a lot of money by joining an MLM. These claims are usually false or exaggerated, as the vast majority of people joining MLMs make little or no money.

Dark patterns<\/strong>: Dark patterns include things like tricking customers into signing up for subscriptions, claiming a product is in limited supply when it isn\u2019t, or \u201cconfirmshaming,\u201d in which customers are guilted into making purchases. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tools for Skeptical Thinking <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sagan argues that skeptical thinking is more important in the modern world than ever before. The processes of science have a toolkit for skeptical thinking built in, one which the general public may not use or even be aware of. Essentially, skeptical thinking is a method of creating and understanding a well-founded argument<\/strong>. Sagan recommends asking some questions aimed at fostering skepticism:<\/p>\n\n\n\n