Reasoning pattern · causal reasoning

Proportionality bias

Proportionality bias is the tendency to prefer causes that feel proportionate in scale or significance to an outcome, even when ordinary mechanisms can accumulate to produce very large effects.

Monumental outcomes can emerge from ordinary mechanisms operating for a long time, at large scale or through organized systems. Causal size should be established rather than inferred from emotional magnitude.

In practice

Claims using this reasoning pattern

Contradicted Reviewed Sep 29, 2026

Were the Egyptian pyramids built by extraterrestrials?

The alien-builder claim is contradicted by archaeological and documentary evidence from the Egyptian construction system itself: Fourth Dynasty support infrastructure at Giza, quarry and transport records, and Merer's logbook describing limestone transport to Khufu's pyramid complex while the project was active. Some engineering details remain debated; that is not evidence for extraterrestrial builders.

ancient civilizations archaeology conspiracy theories