3 ms·
"Butterfly idea" is a cute aphorism but there is already a term of art for this which ought to be in more widespread use especially among nerds: hypothesis, as
by lisper 3y ago
"Butterfly idea" is a cute aphorism but there is already a term of art for this which ought to be in more widespread use especially among nerds: hypothesis, as in, "This is just a hypothesis, but ..."
- koliber 3y agoDifferent hypotheses differ in strength. While a butterfly idea is a sort of hypothesis, it specifically denotes a particularly weak one with the most minimal amount of support. I like the term because it allows you to express the magnitude together with the fact that it is a hypothesis with minimal effort. Of course the people you work with need to be familiar with this vernacular, but that’s doable.
- johnfn 3y agoThat doesn’t seem quite right: people still try to quash hypotheses. The difference seems to be that butterfly ideas are not quite at the “try to quash it!” stage just yet.
- akprasad 3y agoI'm not so sure. Where a hypothesis is vulnerable to evidence, a butterfly idea seems vulnerable to emotion: > I’ve been on the butterfly crushing end of this myself- I’m thinking of a particular case last year where my friend brought up an idea that, if true, would require costly action on my part. I started arguing with the idea, they snapped at me to stop ruining their dreams. I chilled out, we had a long discussion about their goals, how they interpreted some evidence, and why they thought a particular action might further said goals, etc.