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First, there are cheap alternatives (antibiotics) which limit the total market size. Second, it’s almost tautological. If there was enough profit to justify th
by fny 2y ago
First, there are cheap alternatives (antibiotics) which limit the total market size.
Second, it’s almost tautological. If there was enough profit to justify the development time and cost, drug companies would pursue a vaccine. Since they’re not pursuing a vaccine, you can assume there’s not enough estimated profit compared to other research ventures.
The second point includes considerations of difficulty. There are many strep strains. Strep can trigger autoimmune diseases. Will the costs of surmounting these challenges be rewarded above other pursuits?
- log_e 2y agoYou realize tautology is a logical fallacy, right?
- pdonis 2y agoHuh? A tautology is a statement that is automatically true by the laws of logic.
- maxbond 2y agoGP is correct that the argument contains an informal fallacy[1], and people often express this criticism by saying "your argument is tautological," and you are correct that a tautology is a statement which is always true [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautology_(logic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautology_(logic)
- pdonis 2y ago> GP is correct that the argument contains an informal fallacy The GP didn't say that. As for which informal fallacy the GGP's argument contained, I would say it was more like a false dilemma. And the GGP did say "almost tautological", which implicitly recognizes that there might be other possibilities. > people often express this criticism by saying "your argument is tautological," I have never seen this (nonsensical) way of expressing the criticism that an argument is false by saying that it is tautological (and therefore true).
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- maxbond 2y agoThe point is that it's an overloaded term, which makes it easy to talk past each other. If you wish to see usages like I described, have a look here. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=%22argument%20is%20tautological%22&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
- schrodinger 2y agoIt's like saying "A beginner is new to a subject." That's tautological since the definition of beginner implies being new to a subject. Those aren't logical fallacies; they're just not very useful.
- auggierose 2y agoIt is not. It is actually quite the opposite.
- pfdietz 2y agoThe first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club. https://xkcd.com/703/ https://xkcd.com/703/
- dragonwriter 2y ago> Second, it’s almost tautological. If there was enough profit to justify the development time and cost, drug companies would pursue a vaccine. No, that's not "almost tautological". In fact, it is a form of the appeal to tradition fallacy. (LIt is tautological -- as are many applications of that fallacy -- if you take the assumptions underpinning rational choice theory as axioms, but it stops being such once you drop the perfect information assumption.) Your reframing of it in the next sentence subtly acknowledges this, when you shift from "if there was enough profit" to "there’s not enough estimated profit", despite that you are responding to a post that explicitly is arguing that the estimate made of the profit is dubious.
- zaptrem 2y agoEven with antibiotics strep really sucks for kids (painful!) and parents (kid needs to stay home from school). Seems like there would be obvious demand. The article says the FDA banned testing for like 40 years due to a tiny issue during a trial in the late 20th century.