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> Genuinely looking for clarification - what does "untestable claim" means to you in this context? Simply what I wrote above: The fact that no observation coun

> Genuinely looking for clarification - what does "untestable claim" means to you in this context? Simply what I wrote above: The fact that no observation counts as evidence against the claim, every possible observed behaviour can be explained by "it's magic". That includes the behaviour of all the components of the system, including the people. You claim that there are all those people and roles that make sure that crap doesn't go to production. I make the observation that those people and roles and whatnot have decided to implement a 5-char limit on passwords. You respond that "it's magic". No matter how obviously terrible the observable effects of the system are, you will find some rationalization why the black-box magic can exhibit this behaviour while also being perfectly secure. In case you aren't aware, it's a term from epistemology/philosophy of science.

throwaway201606 7y ago
Thanks for taking the time to explain that, much appreciated. I was not aware about the epistemology / philosophical implications of the "it's magic" comment. I took the literally reading of your comment. Can you point me at some stuff I can look at to start learning a little more about this - sounds like the kind of interesting stuff I should be reading late into the night rather than working on the sleep I should be getting.
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Falsifiability https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Falsifiability could be starting points? I dunno. And, yeah, "it's magic" is just a placeholder for a random ad-hoc rationalization that you can make up in any such situation that would explain the given observation while some apparently contradicting claim is also true. The problem is when there is (almost?) no observation that would make you go "ah, ok, I guess this claim is bullshit after all", because you can always make up some story as to why it might not be.
  - throwaway201606 7y ago
    Thank you, much appreciated.

throwaway201606 7y ago

Thanks for taking the time to explain that, much appreciated. I was not aware about the epistemology / philosophical implications of the "it's magic" comment. I took the literally reading of your comment. Can you point me at some stuff I can look at to start learning a little more about this - sounds like the kind of interesting stuff I should be reading late into the night rather than working on the sleep I should be getting.

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Falsifiability https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Falsifiability could be starting points? I dunno. And, yeah, "it's magic" is just a placeholder for a random ad-hoc rationalization that you can make up in any such situation that would explain the given observation while some apparently contradicting claim is also true. The problem is when there is (almost?) no observation that would make you go "ah, ok, I guess this claim is bullshit after all", because you can always make up some story as to why it might not be.
- throwaway201606 7y ago
  Thank you, much appreciated.