what's a "black box"?
In science and engineering, a black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed in terms of its input, output and transfer characteristics without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque". Almost anything might be referred to as a black box: a transistor, an algorithm, or the human mind. The opposite of a black box is a system where the inner components or logic are available for inspection, which is sometimes known as a clear box, a glass box, or a white box.
in short, a "black box" is a "plug in" where data is input and output is produced without knowledge of how the data is manipulated to produce the output.
in 1969 and 1970 while I was an assistant instructor for the Infantry Officers Advanced Course at Ft. Benning, the acronym "GIGO" was used in one of the classes--Garbage In, Garbage Out. Beware of "black boxes" where the user doesn't know the exact steps in manipulating the input to get the output.
"black boxes" are everywhere in the world in which we live--computer programs, algorithms, calculators, circuit boards in our phones, appliances, cars, weather forecasts, outcome projections (e.g. elections) , etc.
how many people today don't prepare their income tax returns?
answer: 56%
granted that IRS tax forms are a HUGE "black box"--but more than half of US taxpayers have no idea of how their income tax is calculated.
suffice to say, the examples of "black boxes" in our world today are far more numerous than can be listed.
small wonder that there's so much misinformation, deceit and fraud in our world today.
trump lied more than 30,000 times while he was president. Trump Lied More Than 30,000 Times During His Presidency. No Wonder We’re Exhausted. – Mother Jones worse than that, half of the country believes his lies.
garbage in, garbage out.
