Can we trust the evidence of our own eyes?
Unwisely I got embroiled in an online discussion this morning on the merits of research versus the experience of seeing stuff work with our own eyes. The contention is that although research may have its uses, there is no need to waste time or money researching the "blindingly obvious". On the face of it, this would appear to be self evidently true. Why bother testing the efficacy of something we can 'see' working? Well, as I've pointed out before, we are all victims of powerful cognitive biases which prevent us from acknowledging that we might be wrong. Here's a reminder of some of [...]