Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (104719)	7/11/2003 12:14:01 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Suppose I witness a murder, and know the perpetrator. It has yet to be proven in a court of law, under existing rules of evidence. Now, suppose that there is no strong corroboration of my testimony, and the jury in unwilling to convict "beyond a reasonable doubt". Then the person who actually committed the murder will be deemed innocent. It is perfectly possible for something to not be proven, yet to be factual. Now, the rendering of the verdict "not guilty" does not mean that the jury did not believe me. It means that it considered the evidence insufficient in a criminal court setting. Suppose we change venue, into a civil court for a wrongful death action. Then it is possible that the same case would be considered proven, under a relaxed standard ("preponderance of evidence"), and the defendant would have to pay the plaintiff. There are various level of confidence between finding something incredible and finding it undeniable. That is what is "not binary"............

To: epicure who wrote (104719)	7/11/2003 6:00:19 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

<imo existence is binary- things either exist or they don't- the "idea" of the existence of something might exist, but that is a different thing entirely> There is a famous cat, in a famous box, whose existence (or lack thereof) depends on whether he is observed to exist. His existence is determined, by the act of observing him, at the time of the observation. This is reality, although it defies common sense. Events are accepted as objective fact, when the consensus, the sum of subjective observations, agrees about it. And all the observers are subjective. Those who claim to see objective reality, are arrogant and deluded. So, for instance, in the Land of the Free and the Brave, at the moment, many people "know for a fact" that Saddam Hussain had a hand in 9/11. See the latest polls. They know this, mainly because Authorities they trust, have spent the last year and more, telling them so. Over and over and over, till it becomes a Fact.