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I must be misunderstanding you, because your claim sounds absurd to me. You seem to be claiming that making a prediction about the future is inappropriate. I d
by yboris 5y ago
I must be misunderstanding you, because your claim sounds absurd to me.
You seem to be claiming that making a prediction about the future is inappropriate. I don't understand what "zero historical basis" even means.
A prediction is just that -- a claim of what the person uttering it expects will happen in the future. The prediction is falsifiable (could turn out to be false). So what's the problem with making a claim about how you think the future will be?
- disneygibson 5y agoNo, I am claiming that the narrative of ever-marching progress (of which vegetarianism is a often participant) is just a narrative and not a serious prediction based on analysis and data. You can see a similar thing with religion. The progress narrative says we will outgrow these supposedly outdated myths, while the actual data indicates that religion is growing, largely due to birth rates.
- yboris 5y agoYou are claiming that people who make predictions of this sort are not making a "serious" prediction. And I am claiming that you don't get to say that. You may dismiss their predictions; you may feel they are worthless to listen to; you might have an explanation for why we shouldn't take such predictions seriously. I can agree with all that. But none of this makes my claim any less of a prediction. My claim is that in the future people will have a certain point of view. That is what a prediction is. I am confident you know that predictions can be false, and calling something a prediction doesn't mean "it will come true" or "it is more likely to come true than not". I'm just puzzled about your use of the word "prediction" -- perhaps we mean different things.