Feynman's 7 “Tricks” for Evaluating Information

• Decide whether someone else truly knows their stuff or is mimicking others.
• What you want is to get as close to the truth as you can with the information available.
• Knowledge is not static, and we need to be open to continually evaluating what we think we know.
• Ask the right question, which is not “Could this be the case?” but “Is this actually the case?”
• Not using the same data that gave you the clue to make the conclusion.
• The plural of anecdote is not data. We must use proper statistical sampling.
• Realize that we are missing information that we don’t know we’re missing.

Most of that information is irrelevant. If only we could sort what matters from what doesn’t. The good news is that you can train your brain to evaluate the quality of information.

Not only can you quickly determine if someone knows what they are talking about but you can sort the important...