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To: Havoc
I'm talking about the authority of the evidence. It's like chain of custody. Heresay and inference aren't valid evidentiary methods. Theory is not truth. You may call it fact; but, truth and fact are not identical in nature. That is perhaps why you might prefer to use the word fact. If you have nothing but modern evidences and infinite possibilities for causality, an inference isn't true, nor is it necessarily fact. It is a working hypothesis. In absence of capacity to falsify and exclude all other possibilities, you are left with a hypothesis at best - not a fact.

This seems like a reasonable statement, but I think you have closed your eyes to 200 years of accumulated evidence in physics, chemistry, biology and geology. We send people to the gas chamber on far less evidence. Using your standard, no criminal would ever be convicted.

501 posted on 12/20/2004 12:52:42 PM PST by js1138 (D*mn, I Missed!)
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To: js1138
We send people to the gas chamber on far less evidence. Using your standard, no criminal would ever be convicted.

That says something about the system and about our society - not about best case. Our system did not start out that way and wasn't intended to devolve to what it is now. And it serves as no excuse for what you pass off as fact. There's no excuse for it. When I took science in school, there was a far higher standard instilled by my prof. When I took logic, there was a far higher standard. If you're trying to tell me the standard has fallen that far in 10-15 years, you're really a pathetic bunch for allowing it. Cause ultimately, that is your credibility - absent that, you're nothing in your profession. Similar minds may back-pat you; but, that isn't credibility - that's ego stroking. If you don't know the difference, you should do something else. Contrary to the absurd accusations here, I've a genius plus level IQ and the ability to use it. That and a dollar will get a cup of coffee (or 4bucks at starbucks). Intellect is worthless if it isn't used properly. And people are useless if they think themselves smarter than the unwashed. For all you think you know, you don't seem to know the most important lessens. It is truly sad and sick.

522 posted on 12/20/2004 1:30:47 PM PST by Havoc (Reagan was right and so was McKinley. Down with free trade.)
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