User:Cazort/biases

This is a page for me to outline my potential biases in editing wikipedia. This is not the same as potential conflicts of interest which can be assessed by looking at the bio section of my main user page.

Strong biases

• I am biased against status, recognition, and social approval in mainstream society. If mainstream society views you as authoritative on a particular subject, or if you have a lot of people supporting your viewpoints, I'm going to view your viewpoints with increased skepticism and scrutiny than if you were just an unknown person showing up and making a point. I think most people tend to allow status and social approval sway them in biased ways, and I sometimes err on the side of caution, over-reacting in the other direction.

• I am fairly biased against modern western medicine. This bias is tempered by the fact that I have studied a great deal of science and generally trust the scientific method. However, this bias is reinforced by legitimate concerns about publication bias and conflict of interest in many peer-reviewed science journals, and broader concerns about a profit motive corrupting the body of scientific knowledge in western medicine.

• I like directness and honestly in speech, and I prefer speech that is neutral. Sometimes I appreciate understatement, but I tend to react negatively to exaggeration. I strongly dislike euphemisms, political correctness, and jargon.

• I am strongly biased against suburbanization and car-oriented development.

• I am biased against mainstream economics.

• I am a collectivist, although I have many individualist tendencies. Rather than see these two views as opposed, I believe it is possible to have "a lot of both". I am biased against what I see as strong individualism in the absence of any sort of collectivist perspective.

Weaker biases

• I am biased in general towards holistic thinking and generalism, and somewhat biased against reductionism and specialization, although I see the value of both approaches.

• I have a seemingly paradoxical bias of being somewhat opposed to the idea of capitalism while strongly supporting the idea of a free market.

• I tend to be biased against legalese, although I understand the value and importance of law.

• I tend to be somewhat biased towards viewpoints and individuals that are respectful of religion and against those who condemn or universally criticize religion. For example, this bias makes me dislike Richard Dawkins and like Stephen Jay Gould.

• I tend to be skeptical of academics' ability to reason about the relative importance or value of research or intellectual work, even though I respect their high standards of rigor.

• I tend to be biased towards entrepreneurship and sometimes exhibit biases against large organizations whether corporations, governmental entities, or non-profits.