My tenth Critical Thinking about COVID video explores how slothful induction helped COVID-19 spread. The myth that the flu is worse than COVID commits the fallacy of slothful induction – ignoring relevant evidence when coming to a conclusion. Back in March when people were making this argument, it had an unstated assumption: that the number of COVID deaths would stay lower than flu deaths.
This week’s video features a cartoon I cannibalized from the Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book, illustrating the fallacy of assuming that just because things aren’t bad yet doesn’t mean there isn’t something bad coming down the pipeline. We also see this argument in climate change, arguing that climate change isn’t a problem because we haven’t experienced terrible impacts yet.
Check out the full list of Critical Thinking About COVID videos on YouTube. Thanks to Prof. Melanie Trecek-King, Dr. Lori Byron, Dr. Robert Byron, and Dr. Elizabeth Del Buono for their feedback in the writing of this video.
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