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Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect

This cluster centers on commenters identifying and linking to the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect, describing how people recognize media inaccuracies in familiar subjects but forget them when reading about unfamiliar ones.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Politics & Society
1,764
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#4653
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
4
2008
4
2009
16
2010
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2011
18
2012
37
2013
49
2014
34
2015
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2016
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2017
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2018
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2019
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2020
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2021
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2022
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2023
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2025
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2026
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Top Contributors

jancsika (11) mistermann (7) ithkuil (6) adolph (6) pwg (5)

Keywords

AHA HN archive.org ycombinator.com epsilontheory.com damninteresting.com PS urbandictionary.com goodreads.com theportal.wiki gell mann amnesia effect chesterton phenomenon article michael inaccurate called

Sample Comments

jboggan • Jan 15, 2020 • View on HN

You are noticing the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect.

dmoy • Dec 22, 2025 • View on HN

Feels like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect

pure-awesome • Feb 14, 2019 • View on HN

Sounds like a form of the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect

confluence • Oct 17, 2015 • View on HN

It's called the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect

josephpmay • May 4, 2016 • View on HN

It's called the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect

mikeash • Apr 26, 2016 • View on HN

It's called the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.

slavik81 • Dec 12, 2020 • View on HN

You're referring to the "Gell-Mann Amnesia" effect.

CaptainFever • Feb 20, 2024 • View on HN

Ah, the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.https://theportal.wiki/wiki/The_Gell-Mann_Amnesia_Effect

myself248 • Jan 22, 2019 • View on HN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effectAHA! Thank you for giving a name to a phenomenon I've talked about for years!

cgh • Nov 24, 2025 • View on HN

This is a variation of the Gell-Mann amnesia effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect