Name that Fallacy (AI & Data Centers)
People against the AI data center are all Luddites
What is a Stereotype?
Think about the children whose futures will be destroyed if we let students use AI to write their essays and do schoolwork!
What is Appeal to Emotion?
Affordable housing should be blocked in our neighborhood; everyone knows that a place instantly goes down the drain with affordable housing.
What is a Hasty Generalization?
We need more buses because a well-run transit system is simply one that has more buses.
What is Circular Argument?
Sure, congestion pricing might work everywhere else, but our I-70 in Denver is different, and it definitely doesn't work here.
What is Special Pleading?
Either we let students use AI for every assignment, or they'll graduate completely unprepared for the real world.
What is a False Dilemma?
The tech CEO said AI tools are completely safe for classrooms, so we must trust AI without question.
What is Appeal to Authority?
Property values always drop off a cliff less than a year after any affordable housing apartment opens up.
What is False Cause?
I took the bus once, and it was late, so the whole system is unreliable, and expanding it is pointless and only benefits crackheads.
What is an Anecdotal fallacy or Stereotype?
We've already built a 3rd new highway lane on E470, and rush hour traffic still hasn't improved, so surely the 4th lane will finally fix congestion.
What is the Gambler's Fallacy?
Of course, the mayor opposes the new data center construction - He failed a computer science class back in college.
What is Ad Hominem?
Kids naturally learn best by writing things out by hand, so AI tools have no place in a natural learning environment.
What is Appeal to Nature?
Why do you want to turn our neighborhood into a crime-infested slum?
What is a Loaded Question?
This bus expansion proposal comes from the same RTD that botched the light rail project, so it must be a bad plan, too.
What is a Genetic Fallacy?
Look at these three intersections where the new road expansion reduced accidents - clearly, road expansion makes all our roads safer.
What is the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy?
Sure, the data center might drain the local water supply, but think about how many new coffee shops will open nearby.
What is a Red Herring?
We've always required students to write essays entirely on their own, so AI use should remain banned in schools forever.
What is Appeal to Tradition?
This is a quiet, safe, single-family neighborhood, and it is meant to stay that way.
What is Appeal to Tradition (Appeal to Nature)?
No truly fiscally responsible city would ever spend money expanding its low-density bus network.
What is No True Scotsman?
Some say we need many more highway lanes; others say we should add none, so the reasonable position must be to add just two more lanes on I-25 through Denver.
What is the Middle Ground fallacy?
Are all the school board members criticizing students for using AI to do their homework? They all used a calculator throughout their school years.
What is Tu Quoque?
Every other school district in the state has already approved AI use in their schools, so ours should too.
What is Appeal to Popularity (Bandwagon)?
If we allow even a single apartment building, soon it will be high-rises after rezoning, and they will turn this peaceful suburb into the center of downtown.
What is a Slippery Slope?
Since each bus route loses money on its own, adding more buses to the network will only cost the city more money overall. Show me where a bus route is profitable.
What is Burden of Proof?
It's hard for me to imagine how a single new bridge could really cut commute times by twenty minutes, so that traffic study must be wrong.
What is Personal Incredulity?