Black Swan
I bet you thought I didn't exist, right? Wrong. Some people spend years waiting for my cousin, Godot, and searching for me. You may wait yet longer for my cousin, I'm not sure where he disappeared to. However, you've found me. The elusive Black Swan. Confused? The Black Swan Fallacy is a well-known logical fallacy taught in introductory philosophy or logic courses. In short, a person reasons, "I have never seen a black swan, therefore, black swans do not exist." While at first one might think, "Noone really uses this logic," the truth is it is used a lot. Consider the snowflake. How do we know that no two snowflakes are alike? How do you think this "scientific fact" was proven? The unfortunate truth is that there is no such scientific fact. But of course, noone's been able to disprove it...those snowflakes keep melting. That's the other half of the Black Swan fallacy. It's a negative statement -- Black Swans do not exist. Negative statements are very hard to disprove. The only way to disprove this one for example, is to find me, or another black swan. A search that can last a long time. Naturally, another classic example is "God doesn't exist." Ignoring babel fish and zebra crossings, the only way to disprove this is to find God. Mankind has been searching for him for over three millennia.Latest Messages
| Messages left for this Researcher | Posted |
|---|---|
| Super Battle- Black Swan | Sep 25, 2000 |
| Welcome Black Swan | Jul 7, 2000 |
Conversations
| Conversation Title | Latest Post | Latest Reply |
|---|---|---|
| A470008 Internet Porn | Nov 23, 2000 | Mar 9, 2002 |
Black Swan
Researcher U143315
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