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What do you call the opposite fallacy? The one where any proposed solution is worse than the status quo because of all the things that could hypothetically go w
by freeopinion 3y ago
What do you call the opposite fallacy? The one where any proposed solution is worse than the status quo because of all the things that could hypothetically go wrong?
What-if-ism?
Add: Example: A restaurant that throws away 10% of their supplies each day proposes to donate them instead to a soup kitchen a day before they would normally dispose of them. Then somebody asks, "What if the soup kitchen holds on to them too long and then somebody gets sick from the food we donated and we get sued?"
- cperciva 3y agoI would probably go with "status quo bias".
- minsc_and_boo 3y agoPossibly the Slippery Slope fallacy. There's also an appeal to consequences where if the outcome of something is considered undesirable, then that something must be false.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoThe restaurant example doesn't seem to be a fallacy? That is a real legal concern in US jurisdictions. I'm fairly certain there's some on-the-record case law too. Plus, a real system can be almost limitlessly decomposed, the lower bound is the black hole limit. So it doesn't seem like there could be an inverse fallacy.
- fknorangesite 3y agoI think GP is trying to get at "unintended consequences", "this was a good idea at the time but didn't scale", or "we made totally-reasonable assumptions that turned out to be incorrect" ... all of which I'm sure we've all experienced first-hand in our lives.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoI can't see how saying there were, or could be, unintended consequences becomes a fallacy. All systems more complex then two electrons can behave unpredictably. That's just a fact, that will always be true in 100% of all possible scenarios. There's of course a norm in day-to-day life to not quibble about every possible combination of 3 electrons or however many below a reasonable threshold, but that norm is based on the differing opinions of individuals in society.
- dev_hugepages 3y agoHeck even electrons are somewhat unpredictable
- 0xcde4c3db 3y ago> That is a real legal concern in US jurisdictions. I'm fairly certain there's some on-the-record case law too. There have been a few attempts to substantiate this, but as far as I know there's no solid evidence that it's ever actually happened, let alone happened regularly enough to represent a serious risk. It's reminiscent of a lot of "stupid lawsuit" urban legends (some of which resemble real cases, but omit or change key facts).
- jonhohle 3y agoThe McDonald’s coffee lawsuit is often cited as an example, but most people don’t know the details - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Rest...
- watwut 3y agoDunno, that one is bad example, because it still looks like bad decision after you read details.
- cartoonworld 3y agoIn my limited experience with one food-serving corporation, I found that their main issues were around quality. It is a very bad look to be serving unpalatable (but safe) food, period. The thought is that since exceeding the expiration (or more accurately, the quality) date of the ingredients (for example, tomatos) renders the finished products as substandard in some way, its frankly kind of a dick move to serve food you wouldn't sell to paying hungry people to any hungry people let along poor hungry people. Quality dates are a big part of spoilage in the food service industry, so the quality departments in all of these organizations try to min-max the dates to best represent their required quality, and of course their requirements are longevity, palatability and mostly sales. If an otherwise reputable food retailer begins serving a secondary market with what is definitionally substandard products, it opens a large and murky doorway to liabilities extending far beyond a mere lawsuit. What if the next kitchen mishandles the food and serves gross food to people in need? Even hungry poor people will dislike week old, vinegary tomato slices. There is also the possibility of cross contamination, but in general it is just best to avoid being one local news reporter away from revealing that FoodCo got $foo tax write off for serving mushy tomatoes to old people. A better use of this resource would be to transfer the wasted or spoiled food to a facility which creates compost for local residents or farms.
- throwaway290 3y agoBy definition fallacy is something that looks correct but is wrong due to a sneaky error in reasoning itself. Your case has to do with information not reasoning. "These anti-drunk driving ad campaigns are not going to work. People are still going to drink and drive no matter what." = fallacy "These anti-drunk driving ad campaigns are not going to work because a study from 50 years ago sponsored by Big Alcohol definitely proves so." = many possible issues (too lazy/stupid/malicious to check a better study) but no fallacy
- jameshart 3y agoCherry-picking is a fallacious argument - I’ve seen it called the ‘fallacy of argument from incomplete evidence’.
- throwaway290 3y agoI wouldn't call that a fallacy because realistically "complete evidence" is never a thing...
- jameshart 3y agoSelecting a subset of the evidence that supports your argument and deliberately ignoring available evidence that contradicts it would be the fallacious argument here.
- throwaway290 3y agoIt's not a fallacy if it's deliberate.
- tormeh 3y agoConservatism is the word I’d use.
- joemazerino 3y agoWouldn't status quo be related to Conservatism?
- tormeh 3y agoConservatives (big C) always favor the status quo. The opposite are the radicals, who do not. Then there are the reactionaries who want a return to the previous state of things. That’s generally how I think about it.
- tuatoru 3y agoNot radicals but reformers. Radicals want to throw out everything, not just the particular thing under consideration.
- pookah 3y ago[dead]
- renewiltord 3y agoThat is also the Nirvana fallacy.
- selcuka 3y agoYes, it is not obvious, but this is also the Nirvana fallacy. You are comparing a good solution with more upsides than downsides, to an imaginary, perfect solution where nothing can go wrong.