http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/09/11/the-texas-sharpshooter-fallacy/
If you ever believed a conspiracy then this could possibly change your mind. This is an article I had to read for my critical thinking class that really opened up my eyes. On twitter there is all of these conspiracy accounts that tweet stuff and make you believe it. It is called the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy. It is called this because it is a metaphor of an imaginary cowboy that shoots at a barn but only focuses on the cluster of holes he makes making people believe he is a very good shooter. This article talks about how everyone is always looking for a meaning in something. Any random thing that is a big coincidence is looked to have happened for a reason. It also says how patterns are everywhere and are formed by chance and could mean nothing. The reason I put this picture is because I saw this on twitter and it talked about how the Titan book that was written before the Titanic happened is a prediction of the sinking of the Titanic. I actually believed that until I read this article it gives you some examples on how there is many differences in the two stories that are ignored. I highly recommend reading this article if you are into conspiracies or just because I am not really much of a reader but it is very interesting.
I'e actually read this article before! I cant remember when or where, but I remember it vaguely. I think its interesting. It provides some reasoning on why it would seem like a prediction, but also there were too many differences in the two stories for the conspiracy to be true. I thought it was a cool article!
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