“When Francis Bacon was writing his Novum Organum, he cautioned would-be scienti

—“When Francis Bacon was writing his Novum Organum, he cautioned would-be scientists about what he called the idols of the mind. He listed them in the book:

• Idola tribus (idols of the tribe) This is our tendency to see more order than truly exists. It comes about because people try to feed new facts into their preconceived ideas. (Cultural Bias)

• Idola specus (idols of the cave) This weakness is due to each individual’s personal likes and dislikes, which cloud judgement and reason. (Preferential Bias)

• Idola fori (idols of the marketplace) This is confusion that comes about through the use of words in science that may have a slightly different meaning than that of common language. This also leads to confusion between individual disciplines as well. (Framing Bias)

• Idola theatri (idols of the theatre) This idol comes about by blindly following academic dogma and therefore not asking enough real questions about the world. (Methodological Bias)”—