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Is Godwin's law happening here? [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

gchokov 11y ago
lol.. what kind of law is that? With the same success we could say that the longer the discussion, the bigger the chance of someone compared to watermelon is.. Reminds me about Infinite Monkey Theorem - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
- hnbroseph 11y ago
  i think the notion is that calling someone "a nazi" is seen as some kind of trump card or knock-down move, yet rarely is it really appropriate. or it's a purely emotional appeal. it's a cultural thing, i guess.
  - Shish2k 11y ago
    So you're saying people think it's a trump card, but actually it's a Trump card?
- Kristine1975 11y ago
  You must be new to the internet :-) In the days of olde, when computers were half as fast as they are today [...] and people didn't use web forums, but Usenet for debate, Mike Godwin observed that the longer the discussion, the more likely it was that someone called someone else a "nazi" (but not a "watermelon"), and that afterwards the discussion devolved into name-calling. Godwin's Law (as in "natural law", not "legal law", although some people don't get this) is the result of that observation. It's an early "meme" if you will.
- pervycreeper 11y ago
  Godwin's law (the probably of a reference to Nazis approaches 1 as the length of an internet discussion approaches infinity) follows as a simple corollary of the Infinite Monkey Theorem. The irony of Godwin's law is that it was originally intended to be a way to point out bad argumentation techniques, yet it is almost always invoked inside a bad argument. I would propose an alternative law which I believe better captures the kernel of truth in Godwin, namely: "A discussion can be considered to have been derailed or to have become unproductive once a hysterical analogy unrelated to the original topic has been invoked".

gchokov 11y ago

lol.. what kind of law is that? With the same success we could say that the longer the discussion, the bigger the chance of someone compared to watermelon is.. Reminds me about Infinite Monkey Theorem - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

hnbroseph 11y ago
i think the notion is that calling someone "a nazi" is seen as some kind of trump card or knock-down move, yet rarely is it really appropriate. or it's a purely emotional appeal. it's a cultural thing, i guess.
- Shish2k 11y ago
  So you're saying people think it's a trump card, but actually it's a Trump card?
Kristine1975 11y ago
You must be new to the internet :-) In the days of olde, when computers were half as fast as they are today [...] and people didn't use web forums, but Usenet for debate, Mike Godwin observed that the longer the discussion, the more likely it was that someone called someone else a "nazi" (but not a "watermelon"), and that afterwards the discussion devolved into name-calling. Godwin's Law (as in "natural law", not "legal law", although some people don't get this) is the result of that observation. It's an early "meme" if you will.
pervycreeper 11y ago
Godwin's law (the probably of a reference to Nazis approaches 1 as the length of an internet discussion approaches infinity) follows as a simple corollary of the Infinite Monkey Theorem. The irony of Godwin's law is that it was originally intended to be a way to point out bad argumentation techniques, yet it is almost always invoked inside a bad argument. I would propose an alternative law which I believe better captures the kernel of truth in Godwin, namely: "A discussion can be considered to have been derailed or to have become unproductive once a hysterical analogy unrelated to the original topic has been invoked".