4 ms·
Rumors are weak evidence. Weak evidence is still evidence.
by andrewflnr 3y ago
Rumors are weak evidence. Weak evidence is still evidence.
- nitwit005 3y agoI hear andreflnr is a giraffe.
- andrewflnr 3y agoYou don't actually, is the thing. No humans exist who think that. If they did, that would imply something, wouldn't it, if only that there are some really weird people obsessed with me?
- nitwit005 3y agoYes, the person lying to create a rumor doesn't think it's true, but the people who believe the lie do. They treat it as credible, just as you suggested. Who wouldn't be interested in a giraffe that can type? You deserve your fame.
- andrewflnr 3y agoYou're being obtuse. Not all rumors are deliberate lies. Those that are are evidence of something else. Remember that the only question was "are rumors worth thinking about", which includes meta-level concerns.
- ranguna 3y agoNot sure how you jumped from "rumor" to "evidence". Prefixing it with "weak" does nothing when you are trying to link "evidence" with "rumor". A rumor is a rumor. If you want to talk about it, have fun, you might be lucky and it's true, but more often than not when marketing is involved, it's far from being the truth.
- andrewflnr 3y agoThe fact that the rumor exists is a different state of the world than if that rumor didn't exist, or a different rumor existed. Sometimes that implies things. If it wasn't made up from whole cloth, someone closer to the truth than you actually thinks that's true. They could still be full of crap, yes, but you don't necessarily want to discount them, either. If it was made from whole cloth, sometimes you can learn things from what you adversary wants you to believe. I don't think this is difficult logic.
- ranguna 3y ago> They could still be full of crap, yes, but you don't necessarily want to discount them, either. I agree. But going from this, to calling a rumor "weak" evidence is a long stretch.
- andrewflnr 3y agoSome people apparently don't understand what evidence is.