The Art of Reading Between the Lines: The Power of Inference
Imagine you are walking down the street. You see a person sprinting toward a bus stop, waving their arms frantically. The bus is pulling away. The person stops, shoulders slumping, and lets out a heavy sigh. You didn’t hear them say "I am disappointed." You didn’t see a sign that said "I missed the bus." Yet, you know exactly what happened and how they feel. That is inference. What is Inference? In simple terms, inference is the act of reading between the lines . It is the logical process of passing from observations to generalizations . It’s a mental equation that we perform thousands of times a day without realizing it: Clues ( Evidence ) + Background Knowledge = Inference It is the difference between what is explicitly stated and what is implicitly understood. The Sherlock Holmes Effect The most famous user of inference is the fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes . He observes a scuff on a shoe and infers a man’s profession,...