Calling Bullshit - A Course Provided by The University of Washington [Videos]

Psychology, self-deception and their intricate connection with statistics are part of my active interest. I've written a lot about biases and human irrationality in the past on this blog. Recently, I may have gotten too drawn into machine learning which inadvertently made other interests fall down in my priority list.

One of the books that's on my reading list for a few months now is On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt. I know that there is some interest in academia when it comes to this topic. The thing is that it may not surface as much as other more popular academic pursuit because it deals with human nature and our design flaws, and often with intentional deception.

I know there are some courses on the topic and I'm only going to mention one here, because it was recently brought to my attention. It is provided by the University of Washington and the video lectures are from the Spring of 2017. So, what is this course about?

"What do we mean, exactly, by bullshit and calling bullshit? As a first approximation:

Bullshit involves language, statistical figures, data graphics, and other forms of presentation intended to persuade by impressing and overwhelming a reader or listener, with a blatant disregard for truth and logical coherence.

Calling bullshit is a performative utterance, a speech act in which one publicly repudiates something objectionable. The scope of targets is broader than bullshit alone. You can call bullshit on bullshit, but you can also call bullshit on lies, treachery, trickery, or injustice.

In this course we will teach you how to spot the former and effectively perform the latter." [source]

Here's a top view of the lectures from the Syllabus:

1. Introduction to bullshit
2. Spotting bullshit
3. The natural ecology of bullshit
4. Causality
5. Statistical traps
6. Visualization
7. Big data
8. Publication bias
9. Predatory publishing and scientific misconduct
10. The ethics of calling bullshit
11. Fake news
12. Refuting bullshit

If this is in your interest, start with the first video lecture:

There are currently 39 video lectures. Since they are still adding video lectures (as they film them), the playlist is not complete but it is updated frequently with new lectures. You can save the playlist here.

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Cristi Vlad, Self-Experimenter and Author