Problem
Inappropriate assumptions
Experimental visualization of narrower problems
Other Names:
False assumptionsUntested assumptions
Flawed assumptions
Basic presuppositions
Outdated assumptions
Nature:
Reliance on false or old assumptions about the world can be as misinformative as dependence on false or old data. It can lead to drastic errors in forecasting.
Incidence:
The announcement by Iraq, in 1991, that it had secretly used an antiquated, old-tech method of uranium enrichment to produce weapons-grade uranium, overturned in one stroke the decades of assumptions about which procedures and materials need to be safeguarded. The electromagnetic enrichment method used by the Iraqis is openly described in scientific literature but it had been assumed that this information did not need to be covered by the secrecy and controls related to nuclear safeguards.
Critics of the UK's welfare system claim it is based on assumptions about human behaviour. They say the system was developed by those who assumed that people would behave altruistically; subsequent changes to the system were developed by those who assumed people would behave selfishly. Neither assumption being entirely and always accurate, the system is doomed to fail.
Narrower Problems:
SupernaturalismFalse assumptions on sustainable developmentOverestimation of the resilience of ecosystemsMistaken identification of government with peopleInappropriate projection of values onto other culturesInappropriate assumption of reality articulation through language Related Problems:
SupernaturalismHuman exceptionalismReligious superstitionSubstitution of fantasy for reality Aggravates:
False consciousnessInaccurate forecastingInappropriate argumentsInappropriate ambitionsUnrealistic expectationsPreservation of obsolete systemsIll-defined health conditionsHuman errors and miscalculations Strategies:
Suspending judgementQuestioning assumptionsUpdating assumptionsBeing truthfulBeing fallaciousGiving truthful statementsProviding false assumptionsMaking assumptions Subject(s):
Societal Problems → Obsolescence??Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems Date of last update
15.12.2016 – 03:31 CET