The cognitive error of accepting a convenient, low-effort piece of evidence as definitive proof, while ignoring the mountain of complex, contradictory, or difficult-to-obtain evidence. It’s the mental shortcut that prefers a simple, lazy answer over a complicated truth. This bias allows people to "prove" their point by pointing to a single, easily digestible factoid, a meme, or a headline, while dismissing nuanced studies or expert consensus as "too complicated."
Example: "He 'proved' vaccines were dangerous with one Facebook post about a friend's cousin, totally succumbing to Slothful Proof Bias."
by Dumu The Void March 11, 2026
Get the Slothful Proof Bias mug.The rigid belief that only things that can be "proven" according to a narrow, often undefined, standard are real. It’s the intellectual sibling of Computational Bias, but focuses on the act of proving rather than the act of measuring. It creates a catch-22 where the proof demanded is only achievable within the skeptic's own framework. If you can't prove it to their satisfaction, in their language, it doesn't exist. It’s the ultimate tool for dismissing anything inconvenient.
Example: "Despite years of historical documentation, his Proof Bias made him claim the event never happened because we didn't have a video recording from the 1700s."
by Dumu The Void March 11, 2026
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