Wistful Information Suppressing Hypothesis

[enevarim]

There's some brilliant comments on this thread: https://twitter.com/ErynnBrook/status/1212099402594242563

Is there a term for that thing where people make decisions based on assumptions of how they want something to work instead of how it actually works?

Like an academic term? “Wishful decision basis theory” or something?

I particularly liked … well, “liked”:

My boss calls it “decision-based evidence making”.

I’m also a big fan of “cheer pressure” for it: All these reasons it won’t work are you just being resistant to this AMAZING NEW PLAN! *

and

Wistful Information suppressing hypothesis *

(which feels like the sort of thing Moffat would come up with), and

I've heard some engineering- and tech-adjacent people refer to AM/FM thinking before: as in, are you thinking in terms of AM ("Actual Machines") or FM ("F*cking Magic")? *

Also, from the “nothing new under the sun” box, interesting that it’s not just an engineering problem, it was around in Shakespeare’s times:

Not answering the question, but: like everything else, this is in Shakespeare. https://englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Will/The_wish_is_father_to_the_thought_960.php

I am not helping, I just always like the phrase 'the wish was father to the thought' whenever I come across it. *

Comments

[maia]

“decision-based evidence making”

LOL!

I’m also a big fan of “cheer pressure” for it: All these reasons it won’t work are you just being resistant to this AMAZING NEW PLAN! *

Yup.

Wistful Information suppressing hypothesis *
(which feels like the sort of thing Moffat would come up with)

Yes, it does!


the wish was father to the thought

How is it possible that one human being was able to have so much insight and express it in such a concise way?