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Ok. What would a proof of the negative statement look like? I.e. how could you prove Haber-Bosch is the only way of producing nitrogen at scale given what was k
by rcme 4y ago
Ok. What would a proof of the negative statement look like? I.e. how could you prove Haber-Bosch is the only way of producing nitrogen at scale given what was known in the 20th century?
- freejazz 4y agoIn this circumstance it might be difficult, but to say there is no way to disprove such a statement is facially absurd. It might be true that there are no other alternatives. It absolutely depends on the circumstance. It's like asking is there a different way for me to get to work. Either there is or isn't. It's not an infinite universe of probabilities.
- rcme 4y agoEven if the universe of possibilities is not infinite, that doesn't necessarily mean it's possible to know when you know everything, which would be a prerequisite to proving such a statement. And of course, knowing everything is totally infeasible, so you couldn't prove such a statement in practice anyway, even if it were theoretically possible to do so.
- freejazz 4y agoI mean, I'd think we were talking more reasonably than that but if you want to turn it into some sort of philosophical question not bound by the physics of our universe, go right ahead...
- MichaelZuo 4y agoSince it's impossible to prove a negative, asking someone to do so is a clear signal that the limit of the argument has been reached.