A random thought emerged today. Is there a cognitive bias, similar to the
[Dunning—Krueger effect], but for degrees of weirdness?

I couldn't find any, so I decided to coin one.

_Behold, the Tardigrade Effect._

**The Tardigrade Effect**

_A cognitive bias in which the weirdness of a subject is inversely proportional
to the observer's knowledge of the subject. The more one knows about a subject,
the weirder it seems. The less one knows about a subject, the less weird it
seems._

{{< socialpost src="images/the-tardigrade-effect.png" title="The Tardigrade Effect"
>}}

**The Tardigrade Effect** is named after the
[tardigrade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade), a microscopic,
water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animal. Tardigrades are known for
their ability to survive in extreme conditions that would be fatal to nearly all
other known life forms. They can withstand temperature ranges from 1 K (−458 °F;
−272 °C) to about 420 K (300 °F; 150 °C), pressures about six times greater than
those found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds
of times higher than the lethal dose for a human, and the vacuum of outer space.
They can go without food or water for more than 30 years, drying out to the
point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.

_Now that's weird._ Tardgrade also serves as a reminder of the time travelling
phone booth in Dr. Who.

What do you think? Is the Tardigrade Effect a thing? Have you experienced it? Is
this a duplicate of an existing cognitive bias?

[Let me know!](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7175843182612549632/)

[Dunning—Krueger effect]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect