Tausi Insider

Photo : Pressmaster ( Shutterstock ) Have you ever been baffled by how someone can believe a conspiracy theory that obviously doesn’t hold together? Well, flip that around for a second and think about yourself: Do you really understand all the things that you have strong opinions or beliefs about? Chances are, you don’t. This is the “ illusion of explanatory depth .” It happens when we think we have a deep understanding of a subject, but if you were to ask us to explain it, we’d hit a wall basically immediately. What is explanatory depth? As a paper describing the subject puts it: “People feel they understand complex phenomena with far greater precision, coherence, and depth than they really do.” This illusion can apply to what you believe about political or social causes, for example. Maybe you’re excited to volunteer or donate for something, but that’s based more on feelings and opinions than a full understanding of the issue. One study asked people to explain the policies ...

Efforts by Canada’s financial intelligence agency over the last three years uncovered activity related to homegrown terrorism, the bankrolling of international terrorist groups and attempts by Canadians to take part in extremism abroad. Those three main themes emerge from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada’s review of its intelligence disclosures to police and security agencies from January 2019 to October 2022 related to the funding of terrorist activity. The federal centre, known as Fintrac, is drawing on the analysis to help banks and others that handle large sums to better spot shady transactions linked to terrorism. For instance, Fintrac says in a newly published operational alert, transaction details might include references to words, phrases or numbers linked to violent extremist groups or symbols. The centre zeroes in on cash linked to terrorism, money laundering and other crimes by sifting through data from banks, insurance companies, securities...

Photo : Pressmaster ( Shutterstock ) Have you ever been baffled by how someone can believe a conspiracy theory that obviously doesn’t hold together? Well, flip that around for a second and think about yourself: Do you really understand all the things that you have strong opinions or beliefs about? Chances are, you don’t. This is the “ illusion of explanatory depth .” It happens when we think we have a deep understanding of a subject, but if you were to ask us to explain it, we’d hit a wall basically immediately. What is explanatory depth? As a paper describing the subject puts it: “People feel they understand complex phenomena with far greater precision, coherence, and depth than they really do.” This illusion can apply to what you believe about political or social causes, for example. Maybe you’re excited to volunteer or donate for something, but that’s based more on feelings and opinions than a full understanding of the issue. One study asked people to explain the policies ...