Philosophical phriday - deceptive deception

Truly effective deception isn't even recognised as such - it passes completely unnoticed. There is no shortage of now-recognised examples that the deceived didn't spot at the time and maybe still haven't noticed. Here's a sample:

  • A stick insect appears to a predator to be an inedible stick, not a tasty insect

  • Spotted from an enemy's reconnaisance biplane, an inflatable tank or field gun may appear solid, a credible threat at least

  • While an accomplice distracts a resident by knocking at the front door on a pretext, the cunning thief slips around the back

  • Phishers emulate the look and feel of legitimate emails, senders and websites to dupe victims into visiting and disclosing their credentials, using spurious urgency to shortcut or bypass checks, specific timing and wording, and sheer volume to exploit the offguard vulnerables

  • Fake compliance certificates can be purchased for $notalot from unaccredited and unscrupulous certification bodies ... or simply Photoshopped, easy-as

  • Theranos raised $fortune from stock market investors, promoting an incredible blood diagnostic machine that didn't actually do what it said on the tin

  • Misinformation that accidentally or deliberately misleads is commonplace (I might have tagged it 'ubiquitous' or 'quite rare' - take your pick: truth is, I don't know how frequent it is)

  • The previous bullet is an example of disinformation: I deliberately chose the word 'commonplace' to indicate a diffuse but fairly high range of probabilities, despite just admitting that I don't actually know the true value or distribution and I didn't state the measurement period. It is merely a belief, an assertion, a claim, presented with conviction 

  • As rumours spread, they mysteriously accumulate significance and lose their origins through error-prone communication
     
  • Fame and fortune creates a powerful aura around celebrity figures, adding weight to whatever they say - even in areas for which they are patently unqualified and inexperienced

  • A lot of fiction is grounded in, but elaborates creatively on, reality to tell a story. Isaac Asimov's "I Robot" books, for instance, explore ethical challenges posed by his "Laws of Robotics" - a purely fictional creation that nevertheless prompted readers to risk and control issues playing out today

  • AI/LLMs such as ChatGPT give the impression of freely providing valid information on any topic

  • There is an entire industry dedicated to producing convincing film sets and props

  • [Almost?] Every candidate naturally over-emphasises their plus points, downplays the negatives, offering something beyond (or at least different to) what they actually deliver 
     
  • Models, simulations, exercises and scenarios are used to raise awareness and train people in various domains - business continuity for instance

  • Politicians, Press Agents, Advertisers, Recruiters and Candidates constantly allude to or flat-out claim things that bear little relation to the truth

  • Magic such as card tricks involve sleight-of-hand and visual deception, plus verbal deception (misdirection)

  • Narrowed lanes painted onto dangerous but ordinary width sections of road give the impression of physical width restrictions to slow the traffic

  • Eye shapes on the wings or rear ends of insects mislead predators into looking the wrong way as their prey escapes 

  • Plain bare-faced lies and little white lies are all around us. "The probability of being hacked within the next year lies between 0.45 and 0.63 at the 95% confidence limits" or "The risk is 16", for example, both suggest that an uncertain and complex future has been somehow analysed, characterised, predicted and quantified

  • Counterfeit branded goods are a serious problem, landing naive customers with shoddy bargains that discredit and devalue the genuine brands

  • Genuine brands are a serious problem, landing naive customers with costly goods and services that usually fall short of (and rarely exceed) over-inflated expectations

  • Deepfakes are appearing on the news channels daily, just as CGI graphics are used in films

  • Unfounded consipiracy theories - stretching a thin veneer of credibility over an ocean of possibility, sufficient to fool naive believers ("naivers"?) and uncritical thinkers (dupes)

  • The lottery grand prize lures the mathematically-challenged to believe they will soon be rich beyond their wildest dreams, whereas in reality they are poorer to the value of their stakes

  • The phrases "To be honest ..." and "Truth is ..." hint at the dishonesty of other statements
Some of the worst cases involve self-deception, where people genuinely believe their own falsehoods e.g.

  • "I'm fat!" leading to extreme/fad diets and perhaps 'eating disorders' such as bulimia nervosa

  • Unacknowledged, undisclosed, undiagnosed and hence untreated mental ill-health, whether inherited or acquired through disease, injury or experience

  • The Dunning-Kruger effect in which people substantially overestimate their own knowledge, skills and competence - and the converse: imposter syndrome

  • "I can stop if I really want to" claims by addicts

  • "I'm a winner" or "I'm on a winning streak" or "My lucky charm has always brought me good luck", or conversely "I'm a loser", "I'll never amount to anything" and "I know my place"

  • Group-think alludes to the tendency to go along with the crowd, suppressing individual beliefs and contrary opinions for the sake of fitting-in

  • We humans are afflicted by all manner of biases, prejudices, logical fallacies and misunderstandings, while assumptions and presumptions are also subtle forms of self-deceit: we think we might sort of know roughly what might be going on and proceed on that basis

  • Pyramid schemes, house price bubbles, bull markets and all manner of get-rich-quick fantasies rely on a blend of victims' greed and the conviction that they can pull out before everything comes crashing to the ground (shhhhh: wanna buy my Bitcoins?)

  • Elitism: individually, anyone with a pulse genuinely believes they are in some sense 'special' or 'unique', some of us even more than others. In that belief at least, we are all the same. Even the humble feel special!

  • Fantacists exist in a fantasy world of their own creation
Looking back over my own little list, I see stuff on there that has fooled me yesterday and is no doubt still fooling me today, while things are not looking good for tomorrow. The consequences vary markedly and in some cases I feel they are worth it - convincing film sets, for instance, bring realism to imaginary accounts. Fiction, generally, requires a suspension of rational thought to imagine a different reality. I'm concerned, though, about the large grey area between fiction and reality, and my ability to distinguish the two. As I said up front, unrecognised deception is worrying. What can we trust?