Carl Sagan’s guide to fake news

  Secondary | Space | Views: 2482

​Use the following guide to help you spot fake news, not scientific fact! Do some research using the following guidelines:

Do:

• obtain independent confirmation of the facts: check internet sources, witnesses, different pictures, how many times it has been tested
• try more than one hypothesis: test each one, the one that survives is most likely to be right rather than your first attempt
• apply Occam’s razor: the simpler hypothesis that explains the same answer is most likely to be correct

Don’t:

• judge based on the person: focus on the argument, not the arguer
• trust because of authority: does the person in authority have expertise? Have they tested the hypothesis?
• use ignorance/absence of knowledge as proof: the claim that whatever has not been proved false must be true
• confuse correlation and causation

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