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  3. How much data do you require before you accept something as "fact"?

How much data do you require before you accept something as "fact"?

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  • A [email protected]

    I just showed you an example of where “centre” as commonly defined is not between left and right, but opposed by both…

    The plural of anecdote is not data.

    N This user is from outside of this forum
    N This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by
    #98

    If your hypothesis is "all swans are white", and I show you a black swan, do you reject your hypothesis?

    A 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • theneverfox@pawb.socialT [email protected]

      I have a model of everything. Everything I am, my understanding of the world, it all fits together like a web. New ideas fit by their relationship to what I already know - maybe I'm missing nodes to fit it in and I can't accept it

      If it fits the model well, I'll tentatively accept it without any evidence. If it conflicts with my model, I'll need enough proof to outweigh the parts it conflicts with. It has to be enough to displace the past evidence

      In practice, this usually works pretty well. I handle new concepts well. But if you feed me something that fits... Well, I'll believe it until there's a contradiction

      Like my neighbors (as a teen) told me their kid had a predisposition for autism, and the load on his immune system from too many vaccines as once caused him to be nonverbal. That made sense, that's a coherent interaction of processes I knew a bit about. My parents were there and didn't challenge it at the time

      Then, someone scoffing and walking away at bringing it up made me look it up. It made sense, but the evidence didn't support it at all. So my mind was changed with seconds of research, because a story is less evidence than a study (it wasn't until years later that I learned the full story behind that)

      On the other hand, today someone with decades more experience on a system was adamant I was wrong about an intermittent bug. I'm still convinced I'm right, but I have no evidence... We spent an hour doing experiments, I realized the experiments couldn't prove it one way or the other, I explained that and by the end he was convinced.

      It's not the amount of evidence, it's the quality of it.

      C This user is from outside of this forum
      C This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by
      #99

      (it wasn’t until years later that I learned the full story behind that)

      Okay, I can't be the only one that's kinda curious about your trainwreck neighbors. Obviously they fell down a conspiracy rabbit hole, but was there more?

      theneverfox@pawb.socialT 1 Reply Last reply
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      • theneverfox@pawb.socialT [email protected]

        Sure. If it fills a gap in my model, I don't need any proof at all. Why would I? It just makes sense. Of course I'm going to tentatively fit it in

        And if a study convincingly disproves it, I'll just as quickly discard the tentative idea. Why wouldn't I? It made sense, but it didn't math out.

        But this is all in the context of my model. It's a big web of corroboration

        You can't convince me global warming isn't happening, because I'm watching it in real time. No amount of studies are doing to do more than inform the facts of my lived experience... I'm the primary source, I was there

        C This user is from outside of this forum
        C This user is from outside of this forum
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        wrote on last edited by
        #100

        What if you wake up from the Matrix and it turns out the world actually descended into an ice age?

        I mean, it's a silly, kinda extreme scenario, but we're talking about big picture stuff and you can't ever convince me would cover it as well.

        theneverfox@pawb.socialT 1 Reply Last reply
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        • A [email protected]

          How do you know consciousness is "true" and not also an illusion created by the brain?

          B This user is from outside of this forum
          B This user is from outside of this forum
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          wrote on last edited by
          #101

          Even if it is an illusion created by the brain, does that make it any less existent?

          A 1 Reply Last reply
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          • A [email protected]
            This post did not contain any content.
            K This user is from outside of this forum
            K This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by
            #102

            No real answer but in a general sense I try to know that most things are a matter of perspective and truth is on a probability curve

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            • A [email protected]
              This post did not contain any content.
              K This user is from outside of this forum
              K This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by
              #103

              really depends on the source and if it makes sense in the first place.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • C [email protected]

                What if you wake up from the Matrix and it turns out the world actually descended into an ice age?

                I mean, it's a silly, kinda extreme scenario, but we're talking about big picture stuff and you can't ever convince me would cover it as well.

                theneverfox@pawb.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                theneverfox@pawb.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by
                #104

                Oh, that would fit in my model perfectly. Because it's another world... Obviously. My model isn't disproven if I wake up in another world, my model is just physically removed from my new world. Universal things still apply until they don't, but there's no conflict

                If global warming hits 2.5C then flips around to an ice age....I don't understand it, but it's happened. My old observations aren't disproven, new ones disprove the theories around them

                Squaring that circle would take effort, but if it's true it's true, and truth sometimes takes time to understand

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                • C [email protected]

                  (it wasn’t until years later that I learned the full story behind that)

                  Okay, I can't be the only one that's kinda curious about your trainwreck neighbors. Obviously they fell down a conspiracy rabbit hole, but was there more?

                  theneverfox@pawb.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                  theneverfox@pawb.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #105

                  Sorry to disappoint, I meant I learned the story behind the myth of vaccines causing autism. They seemed to be pretty good parents, before they moved away their kid was often outside on his bike.... He seemed happy and healthy to me.

                  We had a significant age gap so we never interacted, but he was on the sidewalk frequently and never in the street when I was driving... Take from that what you will

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                  • C [email protected]

                    I'm like 90% sure this is sarcastic, but you never know.

                    M This user is from outside of this forum
                    M This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #106

                    Maybe the person in chat is a troll. May e the person is a die hard fanatic.

                    We will never know...

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • C [email protected]

                      I'm like 90% sure this is sarcastic, but you never know.

                      M This user is from outside of this forum
                      M This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                      #107

                      Like, i found this youtube channel from the video "mom founf the yaoi". And now its latest video is about the rapture? Its just morse code, this description, and 2 links in the comments.

                      As soon as i get home, im yt-dlp this channel to preserve this.

                      C 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • A [email protected]

                        consider my flat-earthers example: the trustworthiness of the source(s) is at least as important. If I told you my pseudo is ‘Libb’ you can bet that it is indeed so, even if that just me saying it. And that would remain true if, out of nowhere, 100s of people started telling you my pseudo was in reality ‘Mickey’ or ‘Gertrude’. I would still be Libb. Conclusion? All by myself, against that hypotheticla large crowd, I’m still a more reliable source of info concerning my identity.

                        The trustworthiness is absolutely important, and just as important to me, as quantity. The point I was making is it seems that a lot of people in the thread have been underrating the importance of quantity and over rating the importance of source quality. Even the most reputable sources can be wrong, especially in frontier sciences, which leads to a lot of retractions and rewrites.

                        Using your example, you could be lying.

                        No, and I’m almost wishing to see it. Almost.

                        It isn't worth hunting down, but worth a watch if you stumble across it. haha

                        I must admit the rise of flat earth theory came as a shock to me. I always have had a sweet spot for absurd theories but I could not imagine people taking those seriously. But maybe that’s just me being manipulated/lobotomized by the government? As a matter of fact, I’m also a pro-vax and that may explain a lot 😛

                        It came as a shock to me as well. I enjoy reading about the absurd ideas people have in their heads, and I get why people believe in them. It makes sense to them, and they rely on nothing but personal observation and limited knowledge to form beliefs. They were failed as children in my opinion.

                        I too got my microchips and am possibly being manipulated by the government. Which one? Who knows. Monies on the US. lol

                        libb@jlai.luL This user is from outside of this forum
                        libb@jlai.luL This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #108

                        Using your example, you could be lying.

                        True that. It's even more interesting considering 'Libb' is not my real name, just the one I fancy using online. But I would say that it's beside the point of your question (which was not about the possibility one would be intentionally telling lies, just how much data makes a 'fact' reliable), still, it's obviously related.

                        But then... considering that for some undisclosed reason you could not get access to more (source of) info, how would you decide if I say the truth about my name or not, when at the same time next to me some people (more than one) are claiming I'm a liar and that my name is Gertrude? Maybe that can't be decided? Or that should not be? Or mayb the dude claiming his name should be given some extra credit? Or maybe not (I may say I'm but I doubt Elon Musk will admit I'm his natural son and that I should therefore be entitled to a part of his huge piles of money, plus change for the trauma I endured 😉

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                        • A [email protected]
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                          wrote on last edited by
                          #109

                          When a lot of people who have nothing to do with each other say the same thing.

                          When people who dedicate their life to this one thing say the same.

                          When I can come to the same conclusion based on the reasoning behind it

                          When it is repeatable.

                          Then I going to accept it as a fact otherwise it is just something someone has said.

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • C [email protected]

                            I'm like 90% sure this is sarcastic, but you never know.

                            A This user is from outside of this forum
                            A This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #110

                            It's sarcasm

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • A [email protected]
                              This post did not contain any content.
                              agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.worksA This user is from outside of this forum
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                              [email protected]
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #111

                              I'll colloquially use the word "fact" for extremely well supported claims, but in my head the only actual "facts" are mathematical derivations. Evidence supports the veracity of a claim, and a claim with a lot of evidence gets a tentative place in my world model, but any of those claims can be refuted by sufficient counter-evidence

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                              • A [email protected]
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                                wrote on last edited by
                                #112

                                when science backs it up.

                                A daggermoon@lemmy.worldD 2 Replies Last reply
                                3
                                • R [email protected]

                                  Reading it once on social media

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                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #113

                                  Yes, but only if it matches my current beliefs.

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                                  • N [email protected]

                                    If your hypothesis is "all swans are white", and I show you a black swan, do you reject your hypothesis?

                                    A This user is from outside of this forum
                                    A This user is from outside of this forum
                                    [email protected]
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #114

                                    Tell you what, you define right and left, I will define the center of it if that will help you wrap your brain around it. Otherwise I have no idea what it is you are trying to accomplish other than starting a zero sum fight so unless you get it together I'm out.

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                                    • B [email protected]

                                      Even if it is an illusion created by the brain, does that make it any less existent?

                                      A This user is from outside of this forum
                                      A This user is from outside of this forum
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                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #115

                                      If you see a mirage of a spring in the desert can you quench your thirst?

                                      B 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • S [email protected]

                                        when science backs it up.

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                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #116

                                        What happens when "science" backs up two opposing ideas with sufficient evidence and logic to make either seem plausible?

                                        mrrazamataz@lemmy.razbot.xyzM S 2 Replies Last reply
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                                        • S [email protected]

                                          when science backs it up.

                                          daggermoon@lemmy.worldD This user is from outside of this forum
                                          daggermoon@lemmy.worldD This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #117

                                          Science rules!

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