Wednesday 1 June 2011

Omission

There is an effective approach to not telling the truth while at the same time avoiding a lie. This method is referred to as omission. It is certain everybody has used this technique at least once in the past, more likely subconsciously. Here we will see how in the past brilliant minds with something to hide systemized it into a strategy for information warfare.

We have often mistake what we hear as factual. The absence of information is often assumed as an absence of the item in question. This results in oversight resulting from overconfidence in false assumptions.

In a scientific laboratory this applies in preventing the theft of expensive chemicals. The fact is that the greatest alarm systems or security measures can deter theft but not stop it. No system accessible to universities can detain a thief once she has set of the alarm nor stop the theft in progress. Our job instead is to present no need for these systems simply by hiding the fact anything valuable worth stealing even exists. Doing this we take it one step further. Instead of preventing break-ins, we go so far as to prevent any tempting thoughts of stealing in the first place.

We can see now that omission is a powerful tool. Instead of placing our valuable chemicals in a prominent safe, we use an inconspicuous fridge. Instead of costly alarm systems, we circumvent any cause for alarm beforehand.

14 comments:

  1. when we design experiments we have colleagues interacting with subjects. we usually omit the most important parts of the experiment to hopefully remove experimenter bias.

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  2. Haha this sounds familiar. Now that i think of it, omission is used everywhere, especially our millitary.

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  3. This is a very clever and cost effective method to security... as long as someone doesn't give away the secret on a blog ;)

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  4. And now that you told me, I will be right there to raid the fridge! I knew all those years babysitting would pay off! :P

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  5. Interesting. I'm pretty sure I do this all the time.

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  6. I'm experiencing it right now, at the very moment. I hate when people omit 'important things' : (

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  7. Anything to avoid telling a lie can't be a bad thing.. right? :P

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  8. Quite a smart method, but if anything does get stolen the media will run with the headline "£££ Chemical soup stolen from unlocked fridge" and it might make the idea lose credibility.

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