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I often have the problem that I want exactly X and thousands of Internet know-it-alls tell me that I want Y.

Sometimes they are right. Often they are wrong.

Stop making assumptions, people!



These are mirror-image manifestations of the same underlying problem. In the example given in the article, the person asking mistakenly thinks X and Y are effectively equivalent. In your case, the person replying makes the mistake.

XY problems are just the tip of the iceberg; many problems are the result of mistaken assumptions of equivalence, and they often go unstated.




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