By Steve Gillman

Our thinking on a given matter often starts with hidden assumptions We have unspoken, unacknowledged ideas about how things are or should be, and we try to apply them to every situation. We want simple guides to follow, and these assumptions provide them. The problem is that they may not always result in the best outcome.

For example, we often operate from the assumption that broken things must be fixed if we are to continue using them. It is such a pervasive idea in our culture and therefore in our individual minds, that we rarely question it. In fact, some readers of this are undoubtedly thinking right now, “Of course broken things should be fixed!” That immediate reaction is what makes this such a good example of a hidden assumption.

When I was about nineteen or twenty years old, I had an old car I bought for $200. At some point it started to stall out, and it was discovered that the fuel filter was clogging with bits of rust or corrosion in the gas tank and fuel lines. The well-meaning mechanic insisted that the tank needed to be re-coated and the lines replaced. The bill came to about $440.

Afterward, he showed me a rubber hose under the hood and explained, “I also installed an in-line fuel filter for you. If you ever have to replace a filter again, you can just remove it by hand by squeezing these two clips, and then pop a two-dollar filter in.” I though about it for a moment.

“Couldn’t I have just paid you twenty bucks to do this then, instead of fixing the tank and the lines?” I asked. “Then I could have just replaced the filter whenever the car started stalling out.”

“Well, yeah,” he said hesitantly, “But with the corrosion you had you would have been replacing it every month.”

I didn’t say anything more, but this was when I learned the important lesson that even when experts know exactly what they are doing and do it well, they don’t necessarily know when it should be done. I just spent $440 on a car that was going to last another year or two, when instead of fixing it I could have just spent $2 every few weeks to keep it going – about $40 over the remaining life of the vehicle. I was making $4-per-hour at fast-food restaurant at the time, and I could afford the two minutes to replace that filter every three weeks or so. Not all things should be fixed.

A bigger example can be seen in the removal of asbestos insulation in schools. There was a theoretical danger to students from asbestos fibers, so bureaucrats assumed the problem must be fixed. After hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent tearing apart schools and removing the asbestos research was starting to show that it may have been far more dangerous to disturb the asbestos and get the fibers in the air during removal, than to simply leave it alone, safely encased in walls and ceilings. Sometimes the fix is worse than the initial problem.

Often it is better to fix things than to leave them be, but not always. This is the point about hidden assumptions, They are really just useful guidelines most of the time, but they do not provide the best guidance in all contexts. Almost no assumption is infallible–and we can probably take away the “almost” in that statement, and the “probably” in this one.

Other examples of hidden assumptions? In environmentalism it is common to assume that pollution is bad and must be stopped, despite the obvious fact that to live is to pollute and pollution only becomes a problem when it rises above certain levels. In safety regulations the assumption is that perfect safety should be the goal, despite the fact that it is impossible and results in spending far too much money to alleviate small risks while more safety could have been achieved by applying the money to other areas. We each have our own personal hidden assumptions as well, which we are not usually conscious of–a subject for another post or a lengthy book.

Notice that in the examples given, there is a basic lack of questioning at a deep level. Hidden assumptions are left unchallenged, and so alternatives are unseen, not even imagined. This is why it is important to be aware of the assumptions that shape our thinking, decisions and actions. It is also important to challenge them regularly.

You can share your own examples of hidden assumptions in the comment section below.