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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byTroyusrex ( 2446430 ) writes:
The two events, nicknamed Bert and Ernie, have a 99% chance of originating outside our galaxy
I beg to differ. They either have a 100% chance of originating outside our galaxy or a 0% chance. We may be 99% sure it originated outside the galaxy but that doesn't impact whether they actually did or not. (and don't give me any of the quantum observer effects jargon. These waves functions would have collapsed long ago).
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byAnonymous Coward writes:
In my country a person like you would be called an ant-fucker. Because ant-fuckery is the only way to describe this level of pedantry. Don't get me wrong, it's not meant as a grave insult. Polite people use the term in casual conversation and nobody is offended.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Note that this is different than an aunt-fucker, which is sort of like a cross-eyed mother fucker.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
No, your wife being an aunt doesn't make you an aunt fucker. You would also need to fuck your wife.
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bytehcyder ( 746570 ) writes:
In my country a person like you would be called an ant-fucker. Because ant-fuckery is the only way to describe this level of pedantry. Don't get me wrong, it's not meant as a grave insult. Polite people use the term in casual conversation and nobody is offended.
Welcome fellow citizen of Kazakhstan! How much for sister?
byMozeeToby ( 1163751 ) writes:
So if I flip a coin and cover it up, and ask you "What are the chances it is heads?" you would answer back "it's either 100% or 0%"? What kind of pedantic choice of interpretation is that?
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byl0ungeb0y ( 442022 ) writes:
I believe it is Sithic philosophy that states you are either absolutely for or absolutely against something.
So I would not argue with Troyusrex, unless you want to get force choked.
byTarlus ( 1000874 ) writes:
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes."
Therefore, Obi Wan is a Sith.
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bygl4ss ( 559668 ) writes:
well he lives in a cave and his favorite past-time is scaring the natives... sure sounds like sith to me.
byTarlus ( 1000874 ) writes:
I like how that got modded insightful. Only on Slashdot does one earn praise for arguing Star Wars on a science news post. =)
byChris Burke ( 6130 ) writes:
What kind of pedantic choice of interpretation is that?
Internet-pedantry, where either 1) pedantry is misapplied because the word in question does not have a single, precise definition to be pedantic over, and both the the original and the "pedant's" "pedantic" correction are correct or 2) pedantry is possible because the word does have a precise technical definition, but the "pedant" has no idea what that is and is wrong while the original usage was correct.
bytehcyder ( 746570 ) writes:
So if I flip a coin and cover it up, and ask you "What are the chances it is heads?" you would answer back "it's either 100% or 0%"? What kind of pedantic choice of interpretation is that?
A mathematically correct, but absolutely useless one. The guy's obviously an actuary.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Troyusrex: I'm familiar with this use of probability, so allow me to clarify:
There's no need for quantum anything. Probability is simply how one quantifies uncertainty. Here's an example: suppose I flip a coin and you do not see it. I might see it come up heads, and so I would assign a 100% probability that it came up heads. You would assign a probability of 50% to each possible outcome. Who's right? We both are: we're both describing our personal states of awareness about what happened, and they are different.
In this case, the scientists who conducted the experiment are 99% sure that they originated outside our galaxy, presumably because they were able to reject most in-galaxy source explanations. But they cannot be 100% sure.
If you want to learn more, read about Bayesian probability theory.
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bymartas ( 1439879 ) writes:
If you want to learn more, read about Bayesian probability theory.
Not to get into a Bayesian vs. frequentist debate here, but note that this is not the only interpretation of probability out there. The frequentist interpretation is, in spirit, a statement "in hindsight". Troyusrex's point is that it's meaningless to talk about probabilities of things that are fixed quantities; the frequentist interpretation gets around that by making statements about quantities that have yet to be determined. So one only speaks of probabilities before an experiment has been performed and
byBryanL ( 93656 ) writes:
I have moderation points but unfortunately there is not a +1 Pedant mod.
byBrucelet ( 1857158 ) writes:
Or a -1 Pedant mod
●rrent threshold.
byceoyoyo ( 59147 ) writes:
Chance. I do not think that word means what you think it means.
byrasmusbr ( 2186518 ) writes:
Mark your preferred definition of probability
[ ] Bayesianism
[ ] Frequentism
[x] Ridiculous frequentism
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