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KahnemanBlack SwanComparison
WYSIATI vs Silent Evidence
Any decision based on success stories, expert testimony, or curated examples.
| Axis | WYSIATI - What you see is all there is | Silent evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Concerns | How the mind operates on visible data | What the visible data is missing |
| Fix | Slow down, ask what you don't know | Reconstruct the selection process; find the graveyard |
Example
WYSIATI: a founder feels sure because the pitch deck «makes sense». Silent evidence: the 1000 founders who also made sense and failed are missing from the deck.
Open the underlying concepts
WYSIATI - What you see is all there isWe build confident conclusions from the small slice of information available, ignoring what we don't know.Silent evidenceThe data you don't see - failures, drop-outs, missing cases - usually changes the conclusion. The story you can hear is biased by survivorship.
Original books
This part of the knowledge base is inspired by the book. Go to the Ukrainian edition to explore the concept in depth.