opaqueice;131882 Wrote: > I assure you (as a full-time scientist) that what you term a "negative" > result goes precisely as far towards proving something as does a > "positive" result. > > The statement "you can't prove a negative" is a common fallacy; to > anyone with a passing knowledge of formal logic it's plainly not true. > Since I doubt you will believe me and I don't want to argue about this > again, please read any of these: > > http://www.google.com/search?q=you+can%27t+prove+a+negative
I have to argue that it is a matter of semantics. In science (and I too am a scientist, well, a lowly postdoc anyway) you typically try to disprove a positive. Is that the same as proving a negative? Not really. You take a hypothesis that "A causes B", and you show that "A doesn't cause B." That is disproving a positive. Proving the negative would be like trying to prove "A doesn't cause B." This is clearly much more difficult, and why most people simply say "You can't prove a negative." Maybe it's semantics, or maybe people are lazy. Either way, I like to say "You can disprove a positive." -- ezkcdude SB3->Derek Shek TDA1543/CS8412 NOS DAC->MIT Terminator 2 interconnects->Endler Audio 24-step Attenuators (RCA-direct)->Parasound Halo A23 125W/ch amplifier->Speltz anti-cables->DIY 2-ways + Dayton Titanic 10" subwoofer He's not hi-fi, he's my stereo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ezkcdude's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2545 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=26436 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
