#intentionality bias

[harmonic-psyche]

The concept of "weaponized incompetence" strikes me as inherently ableist. It also reeks of cognitive bias.

Consider a person who says that they cannot do a task. Taking that person at their word is the only way I can imagine to respect disabled people:

Disability is a spectrum (well, many overlapping spectra) and is often undiagnosed. So, you can never know for sure that the person is not disabled.

Many disabilities are only detectable by the person with that disability. So, you can never prove for certain that the person is "faking it."

It is impossible to know for sure that someone's incompetence is intentional instead of genuine. So, if you do not take someone at their word when they say they cannot do a task, then you will struggle to avoid ableism.

Claiming that someone is “faking incompetence” or “weaponizing incompetence” is also very, very unparsimonious:

When two different theories explain the same thing equally well, and one theory makes more assumptions about what exists, then all else being equal, we should prefer the other theory. Calling something accidental just assumes that it happened, whereas calling it intentional assumes that it happened and that someone intended it to happen. Any claim that a certain intention exists should be justified. So, we should only assume that something was intentional when we cannot explain it as well by calling it accidental.

An intention only exists within a person's mind. Nobody else can read their mind to prove or disprove that a specific intention exists. So we can never know for sure that an action was intentional. Proving intention is questionable even in the clearest cases—just ask a lawyer. Trying to prove that a lack of an action was intentional is even more difficult, especially because the answer to ���Why didn't you do X?” is frequently “I didn't think of X.”

The flagrant lack of parsimony, and disregard of Hanlon's Razor, in any accusation of "weaponized incompetence" border on conspiratorial. Calling incompetence "weaponized" reeks of cognitive bias. Let me explain…

Calling an accident intentional is much more common than calling an intentional choice accidental. This fact exists in a network of related cognitive biases: Agency Bias, Teleological Bias, and especially Intentionality Bias. They all roughly say that we are overly quick to see purpose in a coincidence.

From my evo psyc armchair these biases seem relatively simple to explain. Failing to spot a real pattern has a far greater evolutionary cost than seeing a pattern where none exists. So, erring on the side of paranoia and false positives is an adaptive trait that evolution selected for in humans.

Arguably, these biases are why conspiracy theories and superstitions exist at all.

I will conclude with a rule of thumb that I try to live by, an improved version of Hanlon's Razor: “Never assume malice when incompetence is a good enough explanation — at least, not the first time!”

there's undoubtedly some merit to the concept of "weaponised incompetence" but i don't think I can engage with it at all because my adhd ass has been accused of it. "you're just pretending to be bad at this to get out of doing it" is like a manchurian candidate activation phrase that makes me start biting. absolutely catastrophic intersection with disability as a whole, really.

I think those who discuss the concept have to reckon with the fact that they are not capable of distinguishing "bad at thing on purpose" and "bad at thing because disability". No, not even you, sit down. I'm not saying this as a burn, I'm saying this as a hard fact that not everyone who has a disability is obviously disabled, they aren't even necessarily aware they have a disability. If your activism can't handle a topic like that then you're fuckin' up!

[lembowe]

Turned a grayscale filter on on my phone and just picked out colors randomly to color her according to the shades! Pretty pleased with how it looks.

[ruporas]

apologies if you've already been asked this but do you have any favorite trigun fics? i absolutely adore your art btw!

thank you!!! and i've answered this on insta, but i don't think i've ever shared on tumblr... i'm not good at reading fics, esp long ones, because my attention span is pretty bad, but from the ones i have bookmarked, i'll share some that i like in no particular order

hills like white elephants (meet me halfway) - adlvnam

pairing: vashwood word count: 1.1k, sfw, vague post v.10 spoilers ‘I read a story once,’ Vash says, unsure. ‘I’m kind of thinking about it right now.’

i like a lot of adlvnam's fics, i find them very unique and creative in their execution, and their writing is wonderful! this was the first fic i've read from them and it's stuck with me ever since. others that i like from them are in manus tuas (no spoilers) and vox dei (warning for post vol.10 spoilers).

stay - Anonymous

pairing: vashwood word count: 2.3k, sfw, no spoilers “Hold up,” Vash groans. He presses his free hand to Wolfwood’s mouth and shushes him. He’s probably going for a stern look, though between his poor attempts to stop grinning like the biggest idiot this side of the planet and the way he’s patting him, it’s hard to take him seriously. “Stop laughin’. Where’s the keys?” “What keys?” Wolfwood tries to ask, muffled by Vash’s hand, and his tongue is a little thick and slow in his mouth so… something comes out, but it’s probably not very wordy. Word-like. Not a sentence, probably. (or, wolfwood and vash get drunk, bicker, and then share a bed together.)

i enjoyed the mundanity and silliness of this fic and i think about it from time to time... i think fics where one of them or both drink together are pleasant to read.

Last Summer - varilien

pairing: vashwood word count: 741, sfw, no spoilers You are what you love.

tags on this one are "sunrises, morning routines, coffee, sentimental" which caught my attention. very sweet and beautiful.

Rain - Kokohamstar

pairing: none, wolfwood centric word count: 768, sfw, major spoilers - post v.10 Ever since he was a little kid listening to Bible stories, he dreamed of the day the world would be washed clean and wondered what the rain would feel like on his face.

as most wolfwood centric fics, it was a gutpunch and melancholic, but still soooo.. augh.... the last paragraph really does it for me.

water bucket blues - fathomfive

pairing: vashwood word count: 3.7k, sfw, major spoilers, post trimax Vash the Stampede goes on the record about a friend he once had. Also about card games, cats, family, and some other things. "Start with a piece of the whole, Meryl said. It doesn’t have to be the first piece. Start with a specific. That’s what they mean when they throw around the words human interest. I know the pieces. Believing they make a whole is another thing. But she’s a broadcast professional and I trust her advice. Maybe if I can figure out how to tell one piece—like the story of Wolfwood as I knew him—I can learn how to tell the others."

i love vash pov fics and i love it when it's first person and this one in particular hits because it's his pov and he speaks, honestly, openly, telling a tale that he can't really flub because it's about the people he loved. i love how grounded this fic is in the present of max, i love how vash grows within the 3.7k words, i love how he moves forward with the world he's living in. this fic makes me teary if i think too much about it... it's really wonderful.

it’s a summer day, and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world - goldenglitz

pairing: vashwood word count: 3.9k, nsfw, no spoilers Vash has the lung capacity of a man who’s cried for 150 years. It isn't like Wolfwood takes more than he gives — but like with most things, he barely keeps up with Vash. He works his body to the limit, even as his lungs burn and his legs and arms give out under him. They fuck like they’re on borrowed time. All of this makes it so easy — so much easier than just talking. Wolfwood would sometimes rather pull new and interesting noises from Vash with just his mouth than do anything else with it. Their own dialect: moans, groans, and four words. “Yes” — “Please” — “Vash” — “Wolfwood.”

i love all of their vashwood fics, they only have 3 but they're all lovely and has a sort of characterization to both vash and wolfwood i don't see often. definitely one of my faves, especially when it comes to explicit vw fics.

i think these are all the ones i'll share for now!!

[paninicupcakke]

Spared🩸

(Tf2 OC one shot)

(TW/CW: blood / broken limbs / canon typical war violence)

Location: Barnblitz

Medic frantically scrambled over to hide behind a nearby wooden shack. He dropped his freshly broken medigun the ground, groaning in pain at the fresh new stab wound on his arm. Having just escaped a Spy attacking him moments ago. Medic sat up against the wooden shack. Blood spewing over his white coat and trickling down his bicep. He suddenly let out a startled gasp, watching his teammate suddenly fly over towards him. The doctor managed to duck just in time, watching Scout collapse onto the snow floor in front of him. The runner let out a loud, painful groan as he hit the ground. Having been flung over by one of the enemy soldier’s rockets. Luckily for him, it wasn’t a direct hit. Unfortunately, the impact flung his pistol out the runner’s hands. Too far for either of them to reach. Scout shrieked in pain, desperately crawling over on his elbows towards Medic. The doctor furrowed his eyebrows, noticing the runner had clearly twisted or broken one of his legs. Medic frantically grabbed the young man by his forearms, pulling him in closer behind cover. Both huddled close together on the snowy ground as they bled out. Scout cried out in pain, burying his face into the crook of Medic’s neck. He was in far too much pain to even shout for help. Medic held the young man in his arms as he wailed in pain. Both men were both severely injured with not a medkit in sight.

“I-I can’t be much of help right now. Mein gun is dead.” Medic frantically spoke up. Scout whined in defeat, sadly glancing over at the doctor’s broken medigun. The sound of the Red team’s gunshots had been moving in closer towards their hiding spot. Medic quickly wrapped both arms around Scout, pulling him into a warm embrace. At the very least, shielding him from their inevitable fait.

The enemy Heavy’s footsteps made their way towards their cover spot. He popped out from the corner, immediately spotting both enemies cowering behind the wooden shack. Medic and Scout both let out a terrified shriek in unison. Preparing themselves to go back to respawn.

Heavy froze immediately once realizing who exactly was behind this cover spot. The pure sight of his enemies in such a vulnerable position caused him to hesitate. There was no real threat here. Both were severely wounded and unarmed, practically dying in each others arms. He couldn’t help but notice Scout’s cheek was smeared in some of the doctor’s blood. Trailing his eyes down to look at Medic’s open stab wound, then over to Scout’s broken leg.

He slowly aimed his shotgun towards Scout’s head, causing both men to flinch. Medic quickly pulled the young man’s head back into the crook of his shoulder with an apprehensive glare. The Russian’s guilt and morality overcame him at that moment. He lowered his shotgun down altogether. Indecisively considering wether to pick off just Scout. However, that would mean having to kill them both off considering how entangled they were. Heavy suddenly aimed the barrel of his shotgun a few inches away from them.

Medic and Scout both yelped again, hearing the Heavy’s shotgun fire a couple shots off into the pile of snow nearby. The doctor fluttered his eyes back open once realizing they were both somehow still alive. Heart still racing, he gazed back up at the enemy towered over him.

Heavy managed to successfully trick his own teammates into believing he had picked them both off. The Russian guarded the fence for a few moments, watching a couple of his Red teammates sprint aways past them. Scout peaked his head out from Medic’s shoulder, visibly trembling.

Heavy let out a frustrated sigh. He suddenly began to sprint off, catching up to the rest of his teammates as they all headed towards the Blu cart. Both Medic and Scout glanced at each other in pure astonishment.

Having been spared by the largest mercenary on the battlefield left them both in utter disbelief.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

im going to be so pretentious about this. if ur an eng aru sekai fan u have to pass my exam before i listen to a single thing u have to say. if u cant follow along with the very basic very direct main themes (the toroidal loops, the fractal manner of said loops, qualifications of being human, among the most obvious) im not sitting here and indulging you saying any of the series characters are merely an ai program

[butwhatifidothis]

Ultimately, I think one of the worst things Hopes does wrt its writing of Claude is take out all of the complexities and contradictions that had made him so interesting to begin with.

OG Claude lies and manipulates people and closes himself off while still searching for the truth and wanting people to come together and be open with each other, because of how his traumas meld together with his dreams. He says that he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants and shows off opportunistic tendencies and then buckles at the first sight of innocents getting hurt, because no matter how much he wants what he wants he still prioritizes the lives of the people around him over anything else. He knows of people's capacity to hurt others for petty or illogical reasons - was raised with that knowledge beating its existence into him - and yet still dreams of a world where people of different lands and cultures can still be friends, because that is how tightly he holds onto his dreams. He's a kind person with the capacity for being a dick, and his contradictions add on so much to his character; they in large part are his character.

Hopes Claude? He lies and manipulates people and closes himself off... and that's it. He says he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants... and he does. He knows of people's capacity to hurt others for petty or illogical reasons... and has no real dreams of stopping it (or dreams of anything in the future really, by his own admission) and he indulges in that very behavior himself, seemingly without any awareness. He is untrustworthy, and manipulative, and opportunist... and that's it. What you see is what you get. And if this were a character unto themselves, if we're kind and we ignore all of the other issues with Hopes!Claude's writing, that would be a fun enough villain to follow around.

But it's not; this is supposed to be Claude. This is a character who has so much of his foundations be built on the idea that what he presents on the surface isn't all that he seems. That he's more than a character who is just "tee hee I'm only pretending to be nice but I'm actually eeeeevil evil evil evil evil evil evil," but someone who both uses kindness as a means to an end and embodies it genuinely. Warm yet calculated, a good man with real flaws - THAT is who Claude is. Hopes Claude is who Claude is if you strip him of any complexity - He Is Only Pretending To Be Good, But Actually He Is Bad.

He's just... easier to swallow, in a sense. Claude is a good person who is willing and able to do bad things, but only up to a very specific, very clear point, all for a good dream he's held onto for years and plans extensively to make a reality in the future; Clyde is a shit person who's willing to do everything short of bombing specifically whatever land he himself is ruling, all for what essentially amounts to no concrete purpose. There's no need to think about Clyde as hard, since he just does what he does because he's doing it and that's enough.

It's why I'm glad I am Dev-Approved to just fuckin' ignore Hopes entirely as a horrific fever dream, because Hopes does not understand what made Claude so lovable at all

[prismatoxic]

practicing the secret art of "the post is Not About You" right now i'm being so good

[infiniteglitterfall]

I mean, I asked Wikipedia the same question, and it took some clicking around because they have so many separate pages on everything to do with Palestine and Israel.

But apparently what actually happened was:

Palestinian Islamic Jihad snipers fire at Israeli soldiers, injuring two of them.

Israeli air force strikes Gaza, killing two Hamas members.

PIJ and Hamas fire hundreds of rockets at Israel over the course of several days, killing a Palestinian mother and baby through a rocket misfire, killing three Israelis, and injuring hundreds.

Meanwhile, 30k+ people gulped down this unsourced, uncited take, and now I understand more of why so many ignorant people say things like, "Hamas is just the resistance! It wouldn't have attacked with such violence if Israel weren't constantly bombing it for 75 years!"

[roaroarke]

Interesting feeling to try an indie game, mostly enjoy it, and leave some feedback on the dev's discord saying 'this is really good and I like the gameplay, but the economy/metaprogression seems out of balance for what it demands compared to the reward'

and have four people jump on the post saying the extremely limited resources for mediocre rewards is intended, it's a hardcore game, you should figure out this mechanic is a trap

and realize that I'm probably not the target audience for a lot of these sorts of games anymore as they have heavily escalated their mechanics over the years to cater to the diehard audience. War has changed oldsnake.gif

[mimiyanna]

Watching OG Gundam because my brain worms told me I had to, and the audacity of the website I'm watching it on to use Witch as the thumbnail for it, like. Yes. We get it. Witch was popular. People love(d?) it. People love S*lem*o. I even think they're cute despite how much I can't stand popular thing being popular. But to plaster the face of the protagonist of a completely different series over top of something with so much historical significance as OG Gundam, just because that different series was popular more recently and is instantly recognizable to modern crowds- It burns me up inside.

[snekdood]

is that person showing their true colors or did you have a hand in radicalizing them away from you?

[binary5tar1117]

[walnutcookie]

i have never thought about face the trial that way before i imagined the drawings on this post took place while langue was still in law school but. Holy shit that is good

langue de chat having a gender crisis

[thesummerstorms]

I feel like there's a solid group of fans (in all fandoms) who forget that there ARE differences between fanfiction and traditional publishing.

Transformative work is great about allowing you to explore secondary POVs and characters who aren't the focus of a text.

But traditionally published books are by their nature more constrained in their format. The physical nature of books + the publishing system means they only have so many pages. And those pages need to serve the central narrative of a story.

It can be fun to puzzle out 'man but what about the implications of x'? or 'oh, I feel like there's a connection between A and B, that's fun to think about!' or 'okay, but from Character M's point of view this is so tragic, even though they literally only exist in three scenes'. That's why transformative work is transformative, and for me, it's the fun part of fandom!

But what that doesn't mean is that the author is being mean or cowardly for not exploring those things in the source text. An author's focus has to be ultimately on the story THEY want to tell, and what makes that narrative or those themes work.

They do not have the luxury of including every digression your brain might have fun exploring, and it doesn't make them bad authors if their narrative focus isn't the one you would have personally chosen.

"But such and such character was robbed! They only appeared in x scenes and then-"

Okay, but did the scenes they were in serve their purpose? Did we get a sense of how they meaningfully impacted other characters, the plot, or the themes while still having a sense of personhood?

You can critique whether or not an author was successful in using their characters for story purposes or whether they successfully communicated their underlying message or whether the author unintentionally/intentionally included a bias that weakens their writing.

But an author not chosing to spotlight your particular minor character favorite does not make them a "coward" or bad at their craft.

[purple-th0t]

The thing about good faith identities is that they actually require good faith. Look at this. Does this seem like good faith???

This is an ask in the afab transfem tag. the owner of the account did not have anything to add. it seems like they agree.

"all they do is prove terfs right when they discriminate against us"

and here I thought there was nothing anyone could do to prove terfs right, as they are not right. But good to know that you think transfems being a little mean proves terfs right.

"exclude any transfem who doesn't have the 'correct' genitals"

you know bottom surgery exists right? you know there are transfems with vaginas right??? This part is really crucial because it reveals how far anon is from real community with transfems. Anon has no real understanding of, or more likely, intentionally ignores the actual transfeminist position of "Afab transfems have a privileged experience of transmisogyny, the oppression that targets transfems," and I'm supposed to think this is a person who has respect for transfems?

"if they didn't have this bias against people who are afab"

By the end we have fully slid into terf rhetoric. You have to imagine that is something that exists when you ignore transfem's positions and then have to make up a reason that is hiding behind the reason transfems say that you ignore. Pure unfiltered transmisogyny. I would suggest anon picked that up from GQD if it wasn't what every terf believes.

"I don't think they're actually worried about terfs, i think that is just an excuse"

like, just way to go revealing that you think terfs are not a real problem. way to go revealing you literally think "transfems complain about terfs (a hate group that targets them) as an excuse to be misogynistic."

Perhaps anon, people keep saying that you are secretly a terf because you regurgitate terf rhetoric to argue why you should be allowed to identify as a transfem. You will have a considerably easier time dodging the allegations if you stop saying terf shit.

this is a spectacular ask tbh, because it so perfectly shows off the "good faith" and antagonism most "afab transfems" have towards this community they want a claim in.

Where exactly is the good faith?? "good faith" holds no fucking water to me when you can look at the words and actions of "afab transfems" and see the transmisogyny plain as day. Who gets to decide what is good faith, and why is it never the transfems who know and can address the obvious transmisogyny? Don't answer that, I know the answer.