Confirmation Bias is to make a selection despite evidence to the contrary merely because one prefers it for other causes besides that of reason. David Hume would have noted that it is shaping evidence by belief instead of shaping belief by the evidence. In particular, there is the confirmation bias strategy known as the sharpshooter. Think of it this way: you make a mark on surface by any means and then draw the target around it; in this manner you will always obtain a bull’s-eye.
Another way to consider it: someone has a presupposed answer and then they reason everything to it regardless of the connection and disregarding all relevant evidence.
How does this relate to Bible Codes?
When a book was published in the 1990s concerning this, people asked me what I thought and I noted that this was a prime example of confirmation bias. Use of the Hebrew Bible was easier, of course, than that of, say, the New Testament Greek. Why? Because in Hebrew the alphabet or alef-bet is entirely consonantal. Thus, this gives a lot of leeway to someone looking for a name or term in it. Further, that these letters were of “equal distance” supposedly made it objective, but all that did was make it easier to find whatever words they imposed.
In any case, the process illustrates pointedly the notion of having a presupposed answer and then reasoning to it.
One "codes" author claimed that when someone found such in Moby Dick then he’ll agree that it is a mistake.
Many took up the challenge and here is one of them in full: https://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html
You can still find publications about Bible codes in some Christian bookstores, demonstrating the cheerful lack of baby logic.
No comments:
Post a Comment