Coined by [Nick Bostrom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Bostrom), information hazard is something that you're worse of knowing, as individual or society. Some examples from [original article](https://unpleasantfacts.com/information-hazards-in-career-and-life): Nuclear bombs in a society: > once people know that nuclear bombs or certain bioweapons are possible, some agents who might cause harm might figure out how to make these for themselves. For the world at large, the advancement of science and spread of scientific knowledge is not always good like we assume it is. Santa claus for a kid: > One type of knowledge that is often more than useless is knowledge that makes you unpopular. It might be fun to be the one to tell your classmates that Santa Claus is not real, but they will not like you for it The practice of "nut-picking" (it's great that this has a name) > When a partisan commentator is highlighting how some random person on the other team is saying ridiculous thing about the world, a practice often referred to as nut-picking, their partisan fans become less inclined to interact in good faith with anyone on the other side. Everyone is worse off because they were exposed to true but unrepresentative information about how some people see the world. A lot social grace and codes, and "some things are better left unsaid" is to not propagate information hazards in a society. #published 2025-03-09