by Celtics0419 December 17, 2022
Get the when the imposter is sus mug."Content moderation at scale is impossible to do well." Named after Mike Masnick of TechDirt, the theorem is that moderating user generated content such as on social media, video services, websites, blogs, etc. and the comment sections therein is inherently difficult to do correctly all the time, and becomes increasingly difficult at large scales. As a result, at large scales sites will increasingly make incorrect moderation decisions.
Facebook's suspension of a prominent journalist's account for posting a news article is an example of Masnick's Impossibility Theorem.
by nmslanon January 4, 2023
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by gitilivy February 25, 2023
Get the tower of impossible movement mug.Hym "How does a literal imposter go about criticizing the guy he's pretending to be? Seriously, murder this guys kid or something. See if doing this to me stops he kid from getting murdered."
by Hym Iam February 28, 2024
Get the A literal imposter mug.The mistaken belief that because complete induction (examining every case) is impossible, no inductive conclusion can be trusted. This fallacy rejects all generalizations on the grounds that we haven't examined every instance—ignoring that induction works by sampling, not census. It's the logic of "you haven't read every book, so you can't say books exist," of "you haven't met every French person, so you can't generalize about French culture." The fallacy of impossible induction is beloved of those who want to dismiss well-supported generalizations by demanding impossible standards of proof. It's a cousin of the perfect knowledge fallacy, and just as paralyzing.
Fallacy of Impossible Induction Example: "She cited studies showing the benefits of exercise. He responded with the fallacy of impossible induction: 'But you haven't studied every person who ever exercised. How do you know it works for everyone?' She said science doesn't require studying everyone; it requires representative samples. He said that wasn't proof. She said that was how proof works. He remained unconvinced, which was his right, but also his loss."
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 17, 2026
Get the Fallacy of Impossible Induction mug.The fallacy of assuming that it's possible to convince or argue with anyone about anything—even the most absurd, unacceptable, or monstrous positions—through sufficient rationality, evidence, and persuasion. The fallacy ignores that some positions are not reached through reason and cannot be dislodged by it. You cannot argue someone out of a position they didn't argue themselves into. The defender of slavery, the apologist for genocide, the advocate of racist policies—these are not positions that yield to evidence because they were not based on evidence. The Fallacy of Impossible Convincing is beloved of those who believe that all disagreement is misunderstanding, that all conflict can be resolved through dialogue, that the only problem is insufficient communication. It's a noble fallacy, but a fallacy nonetheless.
Example: "He spent years trying to convince his racist uncle that racism was wrong—studies, arguments, personal stories, everything. Nothing worked. The Fallacy of Impossible Convincing had promised that reason would prevail; reason didn't. Some positions are not reachable by argument because they were not reached by argument. He finally understood: you can't reason someone out of something they didn't reason themselves into."
by Abzugal February 21, 2026
Get the Fallacy of Impossible Convincing mug.The fallacy of assuming that it is possible to convince or argue with anyone about anything—including positions so extreme, so absurd, so morally repugnant that they should be beyond the pale of debate. The Fallacy of Impossible Convincing imagines that reason is omnipotent, that every position can be engaged, that no topic is off-limits for discussion. It leads people to "debate" whether slavery should be reinstated, whether genocide has merits, whether racism is defensible—as if these were open questions rather than settled horrors. The fallacy ignores that some positions are not reached through reason and cannot be dislodged by it. Engaging them as if they were reasonable gives them legitimacy they don't deserve.
Example: "He insisted on debating whether racism had any merits—'just to hear all sides.' The Fallacy of Impossible Convincing had convinced him that every position deserved a hearing, that reason could handle anything. But some things aren't positions; they're atrocities. Engaging them as arguments legitimizes what should only be condemned. He wasn't being open-minded; he was being complicit."
by Abzugal February 21, 2026
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