A bias originates from laziness but many people persist to be lazy; they do not want to admit their faults; they do not care truthfulness. The 'gang mentality'
Topics
About: fairness
About: bias
About: truth
The table of contents of this article
- Starting Context
- Target Context
- Orientation
- Main Body
- 1: The 1st Meaning of 'bias'
- 2: The 2nd Meaning of 'bias', Which Is What We Are Interested in
- 3: 'bias' Is Not Not Accepting a Beautiful Lie'
- 4: Why Are Biases Adamantly Stuck to?
- 5: There Is No Such Thing as a Good Bias
Starting Context
- The reader knows the background of this site.
- The reader has escaped some detrimental notions on fairness.
Target Context
- The reader will understand why biases are adamantly stuck to and that they are always bad.
Orientation
There are some articles on truthfulness (here and here).
There is an article on the reality, observations, and interpretations of them.
Main Body
Stage DirectionHere is Special-Student-7 in a room in an old rather isolated house surrounded by some mountains in Japan.
1: The 1st Meaning of 'bias'
Stage Direction
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer has a copy of Oxford ADVANCED LEARNER'S Dictionary in his hands, opened at a page.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
This dictionary cites "an interest in one thing more than others" as a meaning of 'bias', and its example is "The course has a strong practical bias.".
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
That "course" seems to mean a series of lectures.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
That seems so. The lectures series is concentrating its attention on practical aspects of the subject, whatever the subject is.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Any lectures series has to have a "bias" or another in that meaning, unless it is insipidly broad, because it cannot talk about everything, unless it continues for ever.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Yes. Having a "bias" in that meaning is not particularly any bad thing. In fact, there is probably also a lectures series that has a strong theoretical "bias", possibly by the same lecturer.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Of course, because what is declared to have a strong "bias" is the lectures series, not the lecturer.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
And even if the lecturer has a strong "bias" in that meaning, it is not particularly bad and is inevitable, because any scholar or scientist has to concentrate his or her attention more or less.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
But what if an entire discipline has a strong "bias"?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
If that means that some things are being neglected in the discipline territory, that is bad, I guess.
In fact, I do not particularly think it wise to use 'bias' in that meaning; why do we not rather say "The course concentrates on practical aspects."?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
I am not sure about the connotations of 'bias' in that meaning: does the word connote that the lectures series is so because of the lecturer's certain predilection or even prejudice, not because of a tactical decision?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
A tactical decision like "This is due because practical aspects are rather being neglected in the discipline"? I am not sure either.
Anyway, what I want to say here is that we are not interested here in any bias as concentrating on something because of a decent tactical decision.
2: The 2nd Meaning of 'bias', Which Is What We Are Interested in
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
However 'bias' is used in the 1st meaning on the Bias Planet, we do not use it in that meaning.
What we mean by 'bias' is any belief.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
"any belief"? Not 'false belief' or something?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Conceptually, 'bias' is any false belief, but it is important to regard any belief as bad.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
We should not say anything that is conceptually untrue.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Fair enough. So, I say, any belief is a potential bias, instead.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
So, any belief has to be suspected to be a bias.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The point is that any belief is a belief because it is not confirmed to be true; otherwise, it should be called 'recognition of a truth'.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
So, any belief can be false.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
When a believer is trying to intrude his or her belief upon others, it is not that "If the belief happens to turn out to be true in future, the believer is doing good right now.". What is required of any human is to judge soundly based on the present knowledge, and the believer is doing bad as he or she is claiming something baselessly, even if the belief happens to turn out to be true in future.
I would like to emphasize that point, because rationalizing having a potential bias by claiming that the belief can happen to be true is the snug hotbed of biases.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
You should elaborate on the differences between belief and hypothesis.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
You do not claim any hypothesis to be true; you just claim that the hypothesis can be true and are always eager to modify or retract it as any counter evidence arrives, or you have to eagerly search for counter evidences.
Any hypothesis is OK if you act accordingly.
What any human should do is to know what can be known, to hypothesize what are not known, and to keep checking and modifying hypotheses boundlessly, where any belief is out of place.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
So, is any belief bad? How about a personal belief, which does not trouble anybody else?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
If there is really such thing as a belief that never influences anybody else, of course, I cannot blame it because it is a matter of individual freedom, but usually (although I do not say "necessarily") the belief sneaks out to try to influence others.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
The believer may act based on the belief and the act will influence others, even if he or she does not outspokenly intrude the belief upon others.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The believer usually (if not necessarily) does so, because he or she has the belief in order to act based on it.
So, "belief that never influences anybody else" is usually a fantasy.
3: 'bias' Is Not Not Accepting a Beautiful Lie'
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
I do not accept an unrealistic ideal like "All the people are equal.", but that does not make me biased.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
I can imagine that many Earthians would call you a bigot.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Whatever they say, not accepting a (even if beautiful) lie is not any bias.
Of course, I think that judging someone based on his or her race, gender, appearance, ancestry, or a like is a bias, but certainly there are some deplorable persons. I think that anyone should be judged based on how he or she really is, but I do not expect that such fair judgments lead to that conclusion that is against statistical laws.
4: Why Are Biases Adamantly Stuck to?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
So, any belief is a potential bias; is any bias a belief?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Well, I am not sure what should be called "beliefs" among Biasians.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
What do you mean?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Any belief, at my 1st thought, is something that is accepted to be true by the believer, without being known to be true.
I understand that a belief is being accepted as it has not been disproved yet.
But I see among Biasians that a "belief" keeps being stuck to while there are some obvious counter examples. For example, a believer of "Women are inferior." should know that there are some women Nobel laureates, who are obviously superior at least in some sense, and still, the believer can stick to the belief. ... Should that be called a belief?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
The believer's defense seems to be "There are some exceptions.".
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
But if "There are some exceptions.", a woman in front of the believer may be an exception, so, why is the believer thinking that he or she is justified to treat the woman as an inferior?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Why, indeed.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
There seems to be a mentality that one can judge an individual by a category the individual belongs to.
The mentality is evolutionally engraved in human brains as a method of economization: as it is bothersome to judge each individual from scratch, a category is invented, the category is prescribed to have some properties, and if an individual is judged to belong to the category, the individual is judged to have all the properties of the category.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
That is rather one of the basics of intellect, but the issue is whether "all the properties of the category" are really properties shared by every member of the category.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
In many cases, some properties shared by just most or even just many members are illegitimately attached to the category, which people usually want to do, because as more properties have been attached to the category, they can draw more conclusions just by judging an individual to belong to the category.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Economization, in cost of misjudging some individuals.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Or we should call it laziness: economization is OK if it does not sacrifice anything, but cutting a corner sacrificing some individuals ...
Laziness may seem to be rather innocuous to many people, but it is a root cause of biases.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
But while putting an illegitimate property of a category on an individual without knowing it to be illegitimate is one thing, refusing to retract the judgement even after it is known to be illegitimate is another thing.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
A major reason seems to be that most people have trouble admitting their own faults.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Ah, I understand that. Also we have trouble, but refusing to admit one's fault at being indicated makes the situation irrevocably ugly: the act is determined to be by ill-will, not an innocent mistake.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Another major reason seems to be that truth does not matter for them.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Being told "does not matter" ...
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The believer just wants to feel superior over the woman; he does not care whether the woman is really inferior.
So, a belief is not about truth but about wish.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Ah, that may be the most illuminating distinction between hypothesis and belief: they are of different motivations.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Although I said "Any belief, at my 1st thought, is something that is accepted to be true by the believer, without being known to be true.", I rather say now that any belief is something that is wished to be true.
So, a belief can be kept intact even after it is disproved, because it can be wished to be true even if it is definitely false.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
But the believer knows that the belief is false even if it can be wished to be true ...
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
So?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
How can the believer act based on the belief that is known to be false?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The believer does not admit that the belief is false.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
But the believer knows it!
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
The believer can refuse to admit it.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Can they do that?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
Their usual tactic is to just shut inconvenient facts out of their minds, I observe.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
What a smashing ability! Can they just shut something out of their consciousness?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
That ability is their lifelines, although they cannot necessarily do that perfectly: they evade inconvenient facts, but if you force them to see an inconvenient fact, probably, they will be disturbed at least for a while and bark at you.
5: There Is No Such Thing as a Good Bias
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
I want to emphasize that any bias is bad.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Is there someone who claims otherwise?
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
I think that there are many: they think that thinking undeservedly well of someone is a good thing.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
We are saying that bias is about truthfulness, so, thinking undeservedly well of someone is a bias because it is not truthful.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
And many Biasians are thinking that they are good having biases because they are only thinking better of some people.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Such a claim comes from narrowness of perspective.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
They are thinking of only the person who is being overrated: "I am kind to him! I am a good person!".
But as the thug is left at large, instead of being incarcerated as he or she should have been, because you have thought better of the thug, and the thug is freely walking around and is wreaking havoc around. . . . Please think also of people who are being troubled by the thug.
If a student is given an undeserved high mark for a test, actually the best mark in the class, another student who should have been regarded to be the best is now regarded to be the 2nd. . . . Is that a good thing?
Thinking of someone better than he or she really is will bring unfairness into the big picture inevitably.
I see an underlying mentality there, which I call 'gang mentality': the boss of a gang is regarded to be a very benevolent person among the gangsters: "Boss is very kind to us; he takes very good care of us.". . . . The boss is a terrible disaster for the general public, actually.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
I notice that it is a dominant mentality among Earthians: someone who plays favorites is a benevolent person.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
I wonder whether they are gangsters just because they are narrow in their perspectives or they are just gangsters.
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
Well, it is a fact that many people adamantly refuse to make their perspectives be broaden.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
So, they are just gangsters . . .
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
The 2 are really intertwined: as they are narrow in their perspectives, they have become gangsters, but as they are gangsters, they refuse to make their perspectives be broaden.
Special-Student-7-Hypothesizer
So, there is no hope for them to change?
Special-Student-7-Rebutter
It is important to think statistically: most people will not change probably, but a tiny portion might, which is what you could hope.
